Sunrise
by Yin
Summary: Following his family's move to Blood Gulch, Simmons meets two siblings. This unexpected encounter brings about new bonds and surprising feelings over the years. {Grimmons, other pairings mentioned in fic} [Modern AU]
1. Chapter One: First Wave

**Pairings Beyond Grimmons:**

~Sucker

~Carwash

~Locnut

~Kimball x Grey

~Bitthews

~Jensen x Palomo

 **Other Notes for This Story:**

~Transgender Character

~Misgendering of said character by a definite jerk.

~Exploitation of children out of pettiness by another definite jerk.

* * *

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter One: First Wave

The distant, altogether loud _clang_ of roughly handled chinaware downstairs often punctuated his nights.

Fourteen-year-old Richard "Dick" Simmons closed the book he had been reading ever since excusing himself from the tense, suffocating silence of the dining room. It had been hours earlier when he had forced himself to eat a few meagre bits of the meal his mother had so unlovingly prepared in order to counter the obvious fact that she was currently freezing her spouse out.

Simmons tensed, green eyes glued to his bedroom's door. If he strained his ears, he imagined he could _just_ make out the dam of furious words that were finally being unleashed. However, his parents' steadfast stubbornness to avoid verbally admitting that anything was bothering them seemed to remain intact tonight.

The redhead let out a tired sigh, anxiety rising as he gripped the sides of his desk so tightly that his freckled knuckles turned a sheer white. He wondered just how long he could hold out under this type of constant pressure, and how long his parents could keep their cold war hostility towards one another.

Fortunately, the move to Blood Gulch meant that Simmons had a believable escape route. He could quickly retreat to his room's relative safety since it would most likely be weeks before either of his immediate family members deigned to peer into their son's bedroom to discover that his still _"moving in"_ was a charade.

After all, Simmons had finished unpacking and organizing his things the day after they had come to live in the new house. He wouldn't have been able to comfortably rest in the foreign environment otherwise.

The move from Iris had been a sudden one, brought on by his father with little fanfare, concern, or time to prepare. Richard Simmons the Senior had always been adept at making quick, informed decisions, a skill he would always woefully point out Simmons clearly lacked. Evidently, his old man thought the move would be advantageous.

Naturally, the two other members of the Simmons' family were simply expected to go along with the abrupt change. Without complaint.

Simmons _tried_ to, he really did. Even though leaving Iris at the last minute totally sucked because he was about seventy percent sure that he potentially had _two_ official sort-of friends at his high school, and he had nearly convinced the girls on his sports team to have pity and cover for him when he went to try out for the Mathletes later on in secret instead of going to the games and practices that they all knew he wasn't cut out for. Besides, they had all long since accepted that his being the only boy on the team was far more of a joke than a novelty.

Starting over in the middle of freshman year in a new town was definitely not something Simmons was looking forward to.

But the redhead had long since learned that it was easier to simply go with the flow rather than to disappoint his father with immature, childish arguments he wouldn't listen to anyways. Simmons' attempt at subterfuge by still going out for the Mathletes in complete secret was just about the only act of defiance he had ever managed to work himself up towards and, even then, it had ended up in failure due to an unexpected source.

However, his mother, normally always willing to go along with whatever his father decided so long as he kept paying for her comfortable-yet-might-as-well-be-completely-separate lifestyle from his own, seemed much more against this new direction in her life than usual.

Simmons knew that had to do with how meticulously she had worked to prove herself and make the image of the perfect family always stick in people's minds when they thought of them. Even though they all knew it was total bullshit, he was impressed by how adept she had become at doing so. She wasn't too keen on all of that painstaking effort going to waste and having to start from scratch in a completely new environment thanks to yet another of her distant husband's _"whims."_

She was making her displeasure with the move well-known even without so much as moving her lips to say a word against it. Her body language and frigid temperament spoke volumes, and she had somehow managed to even _up_ the passive-aggressiveness that always laced her interactions with her older spouse. The hostility radiating off of his mother was enough to make anyone other than his intimidating father want to get the hell out of any room when they were together.

A prime example? The family meals that they were both always astoundingly insistent about having together to appear well-adjusted. To _who_ , exactly? Simmons had never been able to figure that fucking part out since barely anyone ever came over to their house.

He knew that both of his parents could be phenomenally stubborn when it came to situations like this, though the freckled teen couldn't help but try to convince himself that _maybe_ things would settle down soon. Hopefully.

At this rate though, even the inherent stress that came with starting school while classes were already underway in a week or so was going to be a huge reprieve of sorts, and that thought alone was nearly enough to make him want to puke up what little bit of food he had eaten before.

He liked learning, but hated the social interaction element of going to school. So, this whole thing royally sucked if he was actually semi-looking forward to it for once.

* * *

Simmons had managed to stay in his room for most of the following day without any comments from his parents, though he suspected that was mainly because they had been so busy with still freezing one another out that they hadn't had the time or drive to be mutually disapproving of their son's choices.

He quickly picked up his headphones the second he had retreated to his room after breakfast once the needless and pointed slamming had started up again, barely making out the subsequent noises of the garage and car engines that occurred sometime after.

It wouldn't be the first time that one or both of his parents had left without bothering to tell him about it. He still painstakingly remembered that tearstained museum trip when his father had told a terrified five-year-old Simmons about how, if he _ever_ managed to just learn to keep up or somehow stand out more, he wouldn't be forgotten.

He was certain that it wouldn't be the last. Simmons was always an afterthought when it came to his parents.

The redhead ventured out of his room sometime in the evening, figuring that neither parent was in much of a mood today to even pretend to have a civil family meal together if they had even gotten back to the house yet. Admittedly, he had become rather engrossed in reading so he wasn't sure if they had or hadn't returned earlier.

It wasn't like it mattered. He was perfectly capable of cooking something relatively decent for himself, and he knew he would probably enjoy eating it more in solitude than being too tensely nervous to even taste anything.

"Oh, look! They actually _do_ have a kid here!"

The excited exclamation from a stranger's voice that came just as his bare feet hit the plush carpeting at the bottom of the main stairs caused the downcast Simmons to pause and give a start. His head jerked around in the direction that the unfamiliar feminine voice had come from just as a low, disbelieving whistle slid easily through the space between them.

"Huh. I wouldn't have figured they could get along well enough for that."

The other new voice he heard just then came from a rather chubby teenager who appeared to be only a few years older than himself. The teenager had unruly black hair and a stained, faded orange shirt.

Standing next to Messy Guy was a little girl with the same long hair and tan skin. She was most likely the one who he had heard the first outburst from.

The two strangers had similar facial features, automatically having Simmons think that they were somehow related, though the round-faced girl was quite obviously several years younger than the heavier-set teen. Siblings, probably?

Simmons' " _stranger danger_ " sense tingled. Did they break in to the house? Were they murderers? They didn't look like murderers, but they also didn't look like people who gave a fuck.

They were probably the type of rebels and mavericks who would get a cold drink and not use a coaster. That realization made Simmons wonder if they knew how badly that could damage the wood surface of a table.

…They probably did. They probably just didn't care. That obviously meant they were, quite possibly, the _worst_. He froze, hoping that if he didn't move they'd think he had blended into the background and disappeared.

Dark eyes assessed the still dumbfounded redhead as the older teen raised his hand half-heartedly in way of a nonchalant greeting, "What's up?" He said with a lazy tone that indicated he clearly didn't care about the answer.

Simmons blinked green eyes, "Uh…" He muttered out eloquently, thrown back by the supposed-non-coaster-user actually addressing him. There goes his " _standing in place makes me invisible_ " line of reasoning.

"Hiya!" The small girl, dressed in a yellow sundress that seemed about two sizes too big for her and was noticeably threadbare in some places, raced over to Simmons with a beaming smile on her face, "My name's Kai and I am eight-years-old starting next month!"

Simmons blinked again. When was the last time he had even fucking seen a smile in his house?

Kai looked upset at his shocked, freckled face and blinked herself in response before turning to the older boy in an urgent whisper, "Uh-oh, Dex! I think he's broken!" She said loud enough for Simmons to hear.

The teenager she called Dex lazily stepped forward and leaned over to peer at Simmons indifferently, even going so far as to wave a hand in front of Simmons' bewildered face, "Huh." He turned back to the little girl, "You might be right, Kai." He teased, almost totally ignoring that the person they were talking about was _right there_.

"What do we do?" The girl called Kai wailed, looking absolutely terrified at the prospect and not at all getting that this Dex person was messing with her just to get an overreaction, "I don't want to get in _more_ trouble!"

At the horrified tone of her voice and her suddenly stricken body language, the male's indifferent expression melted into a genuine and surprisingly soft one, "You haven't done a damn thing wrong in the first place, kiddo." Dex reassured her gently, almost insistently, placing a hand briefly on her shoulder as he did so. His teasing game appeared to have been totally forgotten in an instant.

Kai sniffled, looking extremely doubtful all the same and on the verge of panic now, "But…!" She trailed off, scared eyes staring at Simmons as if he truly was broken.

Something about the sudden, extremely serious change in atmosphere caused the previously ignored Simmons' heart to lurch. He didn't know who these two were, but seeing the girl so distraught was making him feel like he needed to do _something_ just then too. He jerked forward awkwardly, instantly gaining both of their attentions again, his mind now going a mile a minute as he thought of what he could say.

"That's…that's right!" Simmons shakily tried reassuring Kai as well, "I—I just wasn't expecting company, so—"

He cut himself off, going beet red and squirming when Kai's chubby features suddenly became suffused with understanding, "Oh, so you're just _really_ shy then?" She asked him, grinning and suddenly very sympathetic to his perceived plight, "No wonder your mom said she wanted it to be a surprise!"

"Sur—surprise?" Simmons blinked again, definitely not understanding what was going on at this point. At all.

The other teen, Dex, shot him an appreciative look for attempting to cheer up young Kai before he apparently decided to show Simmons a small amount of pity for his unintended ignorance, "Yeah, about us being here—"

He was cut off by what definitely sounded like something crashing and shattering, this time in the nearby dining room. Kai yelped instinctively in surprise, clutching Dex's hand tightly as he pulled her tinier frame rather protectively behind him.

" _You're being childish, Richard."_ Simmons' mother's voice was surprisingly loud even through the still closed dining room door, a note of smug condescension lacing her words.

"I'm _being childish!?"_ His father's tone was just as loud, filled with anger and haughtiness and extreme disparagement, _"What about you? Bringing those two brats in here from who-knows-what-hellhole-they-came-from like we're the goddamned pound!"_

Simmons watched as Dex's shoulders tensed, his expression schooled into a studied blank one. Kai whimpered and gripped his side tightly.

" _The older one already looks like a slovenly deadbeat, so maybe we might as well be a prison too!"_ The older Simmons carried on, _"Or, given the_ boy _standing out there in the fucking_ dress _, maybe a mental asylum is what you're going for?"_

Dex's face darkened as he pulled Kai protectively closer, the younger girl sniffling slightly and shaking, absolutely and understandably terrified at this turn of events. Simmons held back, confused and utterly horrified at what his father was saying.

" _Well, you did say that you could care less about_ what _I do so long as I go along with your move, didn't you?"_ His mother countered in a falsely sweet voice.

Heavy footsteps proceeded the door being violently pushed open and then Simmons' father, uncharacteristically red-faced and enraged, was looming in the hallway like the monster Simmons used to have nightmares of following him from room to room as a little kid. Well, before he was promptly told to _"just grow up already"_ about such things.

His father's green eyes, so like Simmons' own when he was in better moods and certainly not when they were filled with unrestrained contempt, landed on the three youths. Simmons' body froze in absolute fear right alongside Kai while Dex glared with so much conviction at the adult who had so insulted both himself and his sibling that Simmons felt a small spark of awe despite having to struggle just to breathe in his sheer panic.

The look of disgust on his father's face as he dismissively sneered down at the two newcomers to their house before storming off made Simmons feel guilt-stricken, as though he had done something wrong just by being related to the man. He wanted to profusely apologize then and there, but was struggling to even form words.

Simmons felt his own face heating up in shame at his continued failure to offer up something, _anything_ , to say, "Um…" He tried, flinching when Dex's dark eyes glared at him.

"Oh, Richard, there you are." His mother's voice cut whatever awkward phrase he was trying to say just then off. She was standing in the hallway herself, demeanor perfectly composed and at ease, as if she hadn't heard her husband saying such awful things in front of their young company. His mother smiled thinly, but the gesture was even more hollow than usual, "It looks like you've met our temporary guests. Good."

"G—guests?" Simmons blurted out in surprise, glancing between all three of the other people in the space for confirmation.

"Kaikaina and Dexter here have been having some _difficulties_ at home and needed a place to stay for a while," his mother's slight smile had become quite large and oddly prideful as she continued, "And, as I told your father a few minutes ago, this new house is just _so_ spacious that it won't be any trouble for us at all to accommodate them."

Simmons glanced over at the two youths in question, but they were now both looking down at the floor with very guarded and careful expressions, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

He felt something uncomfortable forming in his gut as the real meaning behind what was happening here started to gel in his head. Simmons shivered at the sudden chill that came with the realization that he was witnessing his mother's most calculating ploy to get back at his father yet.

* * *

"This place is totally weird and not in the good way, you know?" Kai loudly declared from behind as Simmons closed the bathroom door.

He startled at her unexpected presence, having not seen either Grif sibling since his mother had herded them off for their tour right after _"Dex"_ had informed them that he went by Grif to pretty much everyone _but_ Kai.

…His father hadn't come back yet to the house either as far as he could tell, but given the awful things he had said that was probably for the best.

Like himself, Kai was dressed in clothes for bed already, only hers was a way too large t-shirt with a sunflower motif that reached down to her ankles and hung off her small shoulders almost comically.

Simmons frowned slightly in response to Kai's earlier remark, feeling like a part of him should try to deny her statement somehow but finding himself really not able to do so. Besides, something about her wording was a bit bizarre, and he furrowed his eyebrows together as he pondered over it, "The…good way of weird?" He asked her, not sure if he was interpreting what she said correctly.

"You heard me." She stated dismissively, before scrunching her nose up in his direction, "You actually wear pajamas?"

"What's…what's wrong with that?" Simmons demanded, suddenly feeling foolishly insecure about his fashion choices in front of an almost eight-year-old. She sounded like she knew more about fashion than he did and that was, sadly, probably very true.

"Dex says only uptight nerds wear pajamas."

He frowned at her matter-of-fact statement, "Lots of cool people do too though?" He tried suggesting hopefully.

Kai remained looking very much doubtful as to the truth of his words, "They're _plaid_." She told him, as if that made the entire situation all the more obvious as to his apparent uptight nerdiness, "That's a nerd pattern."

Simmons sighed, figuring out by this point that he was probably never going to beat her logic here. Evidently, he would forever be labeled as a nerd in plaid pajamas in her eyes, "Did you need to use the bathroom?" He asked her as his shoulders slumped in acknowledged defeat.

"Nah." Kai tilted her head to the side to peek at the closed wooden door blocking their view of the room in question around his lankier frame, "Did you close the door because if we don't see the mold we can pretend it doesn't exist?"

At his blank stare, she let out a long-suffering sigh at having found yet another clearly common knowledge thing that Simmons sorely lacked any real understanding of. Kai puffed up her chest proudly at getting the chance to inform him: "My big bro's the _best_ when it comes to making cleaning super-quick!"

…By completely and utterly avoiding doing any actual cleaning, from the sound of things. Simmons tried not to shudder at the thought of what their bathroom might have actually looked like as a result. _Completely monstrous._

Instead, Simmons smiled shakily, "I see." And bit down the sudden fear of germs and dirt that hit him full force.

"I was looking for Dex because he said he would read to me like he always does before bed." Kai told him, brown eyes gleaming mischievously, "But I can't find him, so you'll have to do instead!"

Simmons was caught off-guard yet again by her determined remark, "Wha…?" He said, not even forming the word properly out of surprise.

"Come on!" Kai said, grabbing his hand to drag him down the hall with all the strength her smaller statured body could muster, "I'll know if you skip any lines, so don't even try!"

* * *

Kai's story selection turned out to be the first two chapters of a rather well-worn, dog-eared preteen science fiction novel that actually wasn't too bad, all things considered. He had even skipped ahead to see what would happen next in it when she drifted off to sleep after telling him that she bet he liked the robot character best because he would definitely _"dress in plaid if he wore clothes too."_

Maybe, just _maybe_ , this whole messed up scenario wouldn't be so bad after all he thought as he awkwardly stood up and stretched.

But then he remembered his mother's cruel, uncaring smugness when she spoke to his father earlier, and the horrible words his father had seemed to direct at Kai in particular as Simmons glanced down at her sleeping form. She had already tried faking having fallen asleep about five times prior.

Satisfied that she actually was asleep this time, Simmons carefully picked his way through the guest room that the two siblings were to be staying in, stopping at the door when he remembered who both his parents _were_.

He felt terrible knowing that his earlier hopes probably weren't going to happen.

"Not bad story-telling, but you _do_ know that Kai was completely playing you so she could stay up longer and get out of brushing her teeth, right?" Grif's mocking voice spoke up the moment that Simmons was standing out in the hallway proper.

"R—really?" Simmons asked, his face red in embarrassment that he had totally been played by a little kid.

Simmons felt himself becoming more dejected at having been apparently duped so easily. Then again, in hindsight, that was probably pretty obvious. What with her mischievous anticipation at finding him by the bathroom when she had probably been sent there to get ready for the night, or how she had kept trying to interrupt the story or told him he needed to emote more at certain points so he had to read the whole section over again…and how she had learned pretty quickly he would keep talking if he caught her faking sleep instead of threatening to stop altogether.

"Dude, she made me stop reading to her when she turned six." Grif told him, making a face when he added, "She said my voice acting left a lot to be desired, which is just bullshit." The older teen sounded annoyed, but the look he shot the guest room door was a fond one all the same, "The joke's on her though," he assured Simmons with his own wicked grin, "She'll just have to brush double-time in the morning."

Ah. It figured that Grif wouldn't want to wake her up to finish the chores she was supposed to do earlier given all of the stress they had no doubt been under. Simmons was both surprised and rather touched by the display of consideration that Grif seemed reluctant to verbally admit to all the same.

At the same time, he _still_ didn't know much beyond far too fractured pieces about the siblings' situation or just how his mother had come up with this whole revenge plan in the first place.

Dexter Grif was probably the only one he _could_ even ask and get a straight answer out of about everything. But, even as he desperately wanted to do so, he wasn't sure what to say or how to not accidentally come across as offensive.

"Um," Simmons swallowed down on his nerves thickly, "About you two staying here…?"

Grif's expression became the forced blank one he had shown earlier, his guard clearly up once more at the reminder. Simmons ended up trailing off awkwardly, panicking inwardly at whether or not he had already done something stupid and regretful without meaning to do so.

After a moment, the older teen sighed and rubbed the back of his unruly black head of hair, "I'll level with you since clearly no one else ever has. The less you know about shit, the better off you'll be." Grif informed him, "So long as your dad keeps his fucking mouth shut about Kai, we sadly _are_ probably better off here currently."

"O—oh." He couldn't help but feel rather remorseful at that comment. Simmons couldn't imagine anyone thinking staying at the Simmons' household was better for them.

"But you? You keep being decent and chill with Kai and we'll get along fine." Grif reassured him.

"R—right."

"No matter what any assholes say, she will _always_ be my awesome sister." Grif added proudly, smiling to himself.

Simmons nodded silently, touched at the display of familial solidarity and secretly wondering just how amazing having someone so supportive in his own corner like that might be one day.

Grif smirked and moved around Simmons to get into the guestroom, with a careless wave and a " _See ya later, nerd._ " over his shoulder.

It would take the still rather surprisingly awed Simmons a few minutes more than necessary before any sense of appropriate indignation hit him.

"H—hey!"

He couldn't be sure, but he thought he might have heard a low chuckle coming from just behind the door in response to his spluttering.

* * *

Simmons closed his textbook with a tired sigh, rubbing his hand over his eyes before glancing at his clock and noting that it was yet again nearly midnight.

Ever since he had started attending school in Blood Gulch, he had been finishing his homework a lot later, though that was largely because Kai had been struggling with her own math work and had begged him to help tutor her with his _"awesome nerd magic."_ That had only gotten worse when he had foolishly confided to her once when she had screamed in frustration over a problem that doing equation-solving had so often helped calm him down when he was her age.

Not that he was really complaining about it. Truthfully, the six weeks that had passed since Grif and Kai had started staying with them were certainly more lively than most of the ones he had spent before in his lifetime ( _it wasn't sad or pathetic at all, honest!_ ). They were certainly an odd, if not endearingly entertaining, duo.

Even the stress that had hung over his head like a cloud due to the move had abated quite a bit, even if his parents were still acting like vindictive jerks whenever they were around each other. Fortunately though, for everyone's sake, they had gone back to their passive-aggressive tendencies instead of outright shouting matches.

Simmons' father was spending less and less time at home, preoccupied with work and other things. His mother had started developing her own social circle again. It wasn't necessarily nice, but it was what passed for normal in the Simmons' household.

"I used to think our family was fucked up." Grif stated without preamble from his still open doorway, "But I think I just walked in on your mom telling your dad what gift he should get his _girlfriend_."

Simmons felt his face heat up at hearing that, "Y—yeah, she does that sometimes." He finally stated, figuring the cat was out of the bag.

Truthfully, his mother did such things because she wanted Simmons' dad to be preoccupied with his _"secret"_ affair. She didn't care so long as it didn't interfere with her lifestyle in any way. In fact, she was glad for it, especially if it meant he was out of the house more. So his mother wanted him to give his mistress nice things to keep her interested, but not _too_ nice of things that she would get any stupid ideas of wrecking the status quo.

Simmons had found out about it when he was around Kai's age. He was still at a complete loss as to how to process it, so he just filed it under the " _Normal for the Simmons' Family_ " tab.

Grif had never come into Simmons' room before though, and for some reason he became hyper-aware of that fact at that particular moment. He didn't know why though, considering his room was impeccably clean compared to the pigsty Grif maintained.

Kai had invited herself over numerous times already and not just for _"nerd help"_ with her schoolwork, but to helpfully point out what things so sadly identified Simmons as a nerd in the first place. Or to tell him about the latest story developments she found out about in that sci-fi book series she knew he secretly enjoyed too, the one that Grif had apparently given to her from his own saved collection.

Usually, she stuck around whenever Grif was at work. Grif never talked much about what his job was, but he apparently had gone through a lot to get it. He definitely wanted to save up enough money to get a place somewhere for him and Kai eventually instead of stepping back into whatever crappy situation they had left or staying in this one.

Simmons suspected that the now definitely eight-year-old girl simply didn't want to be left alone anymore than necessary, and he just happened to be the friendliest face around here save for her big brother at any given time.

"And here I thought her revenge ploy was twisted as fuck." Grif mused, glancing around Simmons' room with casual interest.

"It…that _is_ twisted." Simmons mumbled softly, finally okay with admitting it out loud. Grif hummed in confirmation, but he didn't seem too upset. Simmons looked over at him, nervous and curious all at once, "Wha…what about you and Kai, Grif?" He asked softly, tentatively, "Are you okay with this?"

Probably not, given how he was saving up so much for a place to call just their own. Simmons definitely didn't blame him.

He didn't want either of the Grif siblings to stay here if they were uncomfortable or unhappy, or if Kai didn't feel safe. He had grown quite fond of the outspoken girl and their unexpected friendship. He admired her strength given how often he so lacked his own.

…And Grif, even though he was more cautious and distant because he apparently had spent a long portion of his life looking after both himself and Kai from what Simmons had gathered from the yellow-wearing child's chatter, was rather similar to her in a lot of ways. Different in other ways too that caught Simmons off-guard unexpectedly when he tried to dwell on just what his mind meant by that description.

Grif seemed genuinely surprised by the question, and pondered over it carefully for a moment, "Your dad's been avoiding Kai since that first night," he muttered, "So it's easy enough to play this whole thing up as some bizarre vacation."

Simmons felt relieved at that, "I…I'm glad." He replied honestly, mostly to himself.

Grif threw him an unreadable, almost considering look at his barely voiced whisper, "Besides, even if you _are_ a giant kiss-ass, you aren't nearly as weird or messed up as they are. You're trying to do all right by Kai at least, even when I'm not around." He told Simmons, as if feeling like they were in a safe enough space to speak openly.

"Oh…" Simmons felt himself blushing as he tried to think of what to say, not used to hearing any kind of praise.

Grif smirked and reached over to pat him on the shoulder briefly, "Simmons," he said, "Do yourself a huge fucking favor and not change _too_ much, okay?"

With that, he left the room with more speed than Simmons had ever seen him use before. He wasn't even aware the chubby teen could move that quickly.

Simmons stared after Grif's retreating form, his face nearly unbearably warm as he tried figuring out just _why_ he could feel his sped-up heartbeat through his practically burning ears.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** At first I was really debating on whether or not I should even post the first part of this story yet given my long list of WIPs, but I ultimately decided to do so in honor of this being _RvB_ Trans Week given one of Kai's plot points in this story. It is actually one of my fave head-canons for her, so I hope I do it justice! Speaking of Kai here, it occurs to me that I don't write a ton of child characters in my works. I hope I wrote her as one convincingly so far! *crosses fingers*

This is a more Modern AU that will be shorter than my other stories but hopefully still fully fleshed out and realized. It is going to focus quite a lot on the developing relationship between Grif and Simmons, and will have a ton of Grif Sibling bonding moments along with quite a lot of sibling-esque friendship moments between Kai and Simmons over the course of the story. Oh, and Huggins too. Along with a whole lot of other characters and relationships as well!

…So, probably not all that short of a fic after all, knowing me and my penchant for rambling. However, it will still be shorter than some of my other stories. I think. XD

I'm going to be telling this story in two parts: the current timeline with Grif and Simmons as teens for the first part, and then we're going to do a timeskip for the second half in which Grif and Simmons (and many of the other characters) will be adults. A lot of the relationships will be more prominent in the second half/post-timeskip. :D

Also, the story's title and all chapter titles will be the names of songs from the _RvB_ OSTs because I am just that much of a dork. XD

Hopefully this trope-fueled story won't be too horrible or anything (I was actually inspired by a lot of different manga/anime stories, so…). I hope that you will continue to be patient with me as I write this one out along with my other works! It seems I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to always wanting to write out story ideas. XD

Thank you for reading! :D


	2. Chapter Two: Routine King

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Two: Routine King

"Simmons!"

The redhead blinked as he finished putting back the books he wouldn't need into his locker. He hadn't expected to hear Kaikaina Grif shout his name in the cavernous hallway, especially since school had been let out a while ago. Richard "Dick" Simmons almost thought he had been hearing things…

…But, nope, he was definitely not imagining a bouncing, gleeful Kai running full-force straight for him from the school's entrance. The grin on her face was wide enough to blind like staring directly at the sun. Simmons was glad the hallway was pretty much deserted as he dropped his backpack to the ground in a loud clatter when the girl's tiny but powerful frame collided with his own in a tight hug.

"K—Kai?" Simmons blinked in surprise before awkwardly reaching down and returning the gesture, glancing over the top of her curly black hair to see if he could spot another familiar figure trailing leisurely behind her, "What…?"

When he didn't see Dexter Grif, a split-second of panic coursed through him at the thought that his mother might have picked the girl up from elementary school instead. Would she be expecting all of them to ride home together then? Or had something happened that made her want to act out again?

Kai thankfully cut through Simmons' rising stress levels as she pulled away from the impromptu hug, clicking her tongue impatiently and looking as though the answer to Simmons' choked out question should have been immediately obvious, "Looking for you and Dex. Duh." She told him, as if that explained perfectly how an elementary school student was standing before him.

Simmons frowned at her straightforward explanation. He knew that all of the schools in this area were located within walking distance of one another, save for some boarding school he'd just dodged having to attend thanks to his family moving when they had, but still!

"Doesn't Grif usually go to your school to pick you up?" Simmons asked curiously, a fact he knew because it was the one iota of physical exercise that Grif never complained vehemently about.

Truth be told, the redhead was honestly feeling nervous as to what may have happened to have broken that tradition of Grif's. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen the chubby boy much during school.

The frown that suddenly crossed Kai's features as she scuffed her yellow sneaker on the floor ( _an action that Simmons winced at but wisely said nothing about_ ) only increased his own concern, "Dex left a message saying he'd be late, and I didn't want to say in the office all by myself. It's boring!" Kai looked up at him sheepishly, "It's…it's okay, right?"

"I don't mind." Simmons was quick to assure her, though a serious thought occurred to him and he frowned himself, "But you coming here all alone is—"

"She didn't. Fortunately." A female spoke up from behind the two just then.

Simmons glanced over at Carolina Church's familiar voice. The other redhead was standing several feet away, watching the reunion with quiet amusement dancing in her own green eyes. Beside her were two other familiar faces: David Washington and Michael J. Caboose.

"We were on our way here when we caught wind of this one," Carolina's head jerked in Kai's direction, "Trying to sneak off on her own."

Simmons glanced down at her and Kai grinned right back.

"I figured it would all be better if we came together." The older young woman continued to explain "Though I hope we didn't overstep any boundaries."

The redheaded teen relaxed somewhat, having gotten to know Carolina and Washington in particular rather well. Not only was Carolina the big sister of his sort-of friend Leonard Church ( _though Church could be difficult sometimes_ ), but Washington was also friends with both Grif and their common friend Tucker. Both were also some kind of special duty police officers in training too, so Kai would have been in good hands with them. It also didn't hurt that Caboose's parents totally trusted the middle schooler with Carolina and her family. Knowing how fondly the Caboose family was about their youngest, that said a lot.

Kai leaned in close to conspiratorially whisper over to Simmons, "I tried to play it chill and not like I was getting along with cops on our way here, but it _was_ pretty tricky since Carolina's pretty cool."

"Don't worry," Simmons reassured her jokingly, "I'm pretty sure your street cred can take it."

"You think?"

"Hey!" Washington looked somewhat upset at not having been considered " _pretty cool_ " also, though he sighed and tried telling Kai, "Well, if you think about it, neither of us are technically police yet."

Kai narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, "That is totally something a cop would say."

"I give up." Washington's shoulders slumped as Carolina patted him mock-consolingly on the back, trying in no way to hide the smirk on her face.

Caboose stepped forward then, waving exuberantly in greeting Simmons' way before asking in a rush of words, "Have you seen Church? We came all this way to see him!"

Simmons decided it was best to not politely point out how short a distance it was between the three schools, instead focusing on the question itself, "Last time I saw him," he frowned in thought, "I think he was talking pretty loudly on his cell to his girlfriend or something by the cafeteria."

Washington glanced nervously over towards Carolina, muttering " _Oh no._ " as her face clouded over and Simmons, far too slowly, realized his mistake.

"Really." Carolina's tone was dangerously flat, "He's been freezing me out for the better part of a month because I joined Freelancer, but he can still waste his minutes talking to _Tex_ even though she's part of the program too?"

"Um, I think it has more to do with Church's complicated relationship with your dad and how he probably felt like you're wasting a chance to get away from him and Freelancer." Washington tried lightening the sudden tension in the air, "Whereas he ended up meeting Tex through it. So…"

"That's beside the point, Washington," Carolina growled out, "And clearly you are discussing things with York that you shouldn't be because that is practically word-for-word what he told me yesterday."

"Yeah, I'm shutting up now." A red-tinged Washington looked away from her sheepishly before his eyes landed back on Simmons, "So the cafeteria, huh?"

Simmons gulped at the surrounding tension and nodded his head.

* * *

Church's muffled voice could still be heard in the background despite his having basically barricaded himself in a nearby classroom in order to talk to ( _and shout at_ ) Tex over his cell. Lavernius Tucker shook his head as his gaze landed on the closed door once again, "Dude, he is fucking whipped."

Grif didn't even acknowledge his comment about their mutual friend, his focus entirely on rifling through the contents of his backpack.

Tucker smirked over at him, "What's wrong with you? Forgot your homework?"

"Please." Grif rolled his eyes since Tucker knew he did any and all schoolwork the morning of, right alongside the dark-skinned boy to keep up the appearance that he didn't really care. It drove both Simmons and Church fucking nuts when they did that. "I just want everything in order in case Kai looks into my stuff later." Grif finally said.

The last thing he needed was his little sister getting worried on his behalf. The young girl had been forced to deal with enough stress and worry already in her life.

Tucker frowned at the mention of his sister, "It isn't like you to not pick her up right away from school." He noted, sounding concerned as he lowered his voice further despite how they were the only two in the cafeteria just then, "Is it because of Felix?"

Grif made a face at his friend's deduction and nodded slightly, "He's called a meeting I can't afford to be fashionably late to this time." He explained.

The obvious frown on his face had Tucker's own deepening, "Dude, are you sure it's even worth it?" He asked seriously.

Grif sighed, "What else do you expect me to do, Tucker?" He asked him for what had to be the twentieth time, "It's not like I can get a job elsewhere." He had fucking tried, but the lack of a stable home life had left his options limited, "The money is good, and they haven't done anything too questionable yet."

Grif knew that Tucker was already aware of why he needed the money so desperately. Kai deserved a safe, non-self-serving roof over her head. Shit, maybe even Simmons could come and stay with them for a bit of a breather from his crazy, messed up parents. Grif wouldn't have a problem with that, and he knew that Kai would be stoked to keep in contact with the lanky, awkward redhead too.

"I totally get that." Tucker replied, taking Grif away from his thoughts, "I just hope you aren't getting in over your head." He grimaced as if recalling something particularly unpleasant, "Felix is bad news, and Locus might be even worse if those rumors are true."

Grif thought of the intimidating-as-all-fuck partner of Felix's, "Actually," he said at length, "I think it's probably the other way around."

Tucker looked intrigued, "Really?" He asked with an upturned eyebrow.

"Dex!"

Before Grif could say anything else, the sound of Kaikaina Grif shouting out his name cut him off. He blinked in shock as she bounded into the cafeteria, responding to Tucker's cheerful _"Hey, what's up?"_ with an enthusiastic high-five.

"Kai, what are you doing here?" Grif asked as he returned her hug, already getting ready to lecture her.

"It's…it's okay, Grif!" Simmons was there in an instant with a familiar group of three right behind him, "She walked with Wash and Carolina all the way."

Grif glanced over at the two officers in training, or whatever they actually were, along with Caboose, feeling both relief that they'd seen to Kai's safety since he knew they were dependable but also nervous even though he considered them something of friends because they were _still_ cops. Kind of.

"Still," Grif stated to Kai after nodding gratefully to Carolina and Washington, "What have I told you about leaving school on your own?"

Kai promptly pouted, "But that's no fair 'cause you canceled on me last minute!"

Grif sighed, "I know, and I'm sorry. I was planning on getting Simmons to pick you up."

"Which would have been no trouble!" Simmons was quick to readily assure both his housemates.

"But his work decided to be pains in the ass again." Tucker quickly covered for the heavyset teen.

Grif shot Tucker a thankful look, feeling somewhat guilty even though what the teal-wearing boy said wasn't exactly a lie.

"Oh." Kai slumped her shoulders, realization furrowing her brows, "So does that mean you're going to be late again?"

Grif rubbed the top of her head, smiling apologetically, "'Fraid so, kiddo. But I know you can handle it since you're so strong."

Kai grinned at the compliment, "Fuck yeah! I'm stronger than all these bitches, except maybe Carolina."

"Smart girl." Carolina murmured in amusement under her breath.

"I—I can take her home then. It's no problem!" Simmons assured them both.

Grif spared him a grateful look, glad at least that they'd been fortunate enough to meet him in this fucked up boarding scenario. He briefly wondered why he hadn't just told the nerd yet about potentially letting him stay with them on occasion when he did finally get enough for his own place, but he quickly pushed that thought aside to say to Kai, "You know the drill. Simmons will look after you until I get back."

Kai seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, "Fine." She turned to Simmons and loudly declared, "But we're totally eating big bro's secret stash of ice cream."

"No fair, Kai!" Grif protested lamely, "I told you that in confidence."

She stuck out her tongue cheekily, "You're just gonna have to buy more then."

"Ah, she's a clever one to boot." Carolina seemed further impressed by the younger girl's antics.

"You have no idea." Grif agreed with her as Kai's grin only widened with the praise. His gaze turned to Simmons then, "I noticed _you_ didn't protest any," he noted teasingly, "So I guess that means you're on board for ice cream theft too?"

"I…er…" Simmons began to blush and stammer weakly, and Grif tried to ignore how he thought those kinds of reactions were rather cute.

"Tucker," Washington, meanwhile, had approached the dark-skinned teen, "Donut returned a mug of yours back at my house."

The mention of their mutual neighbor had Tucker nodding, "Thanks, though he could've just waited to give it back when he was visiting his folks over the holidays."

Franklin Delano Donut was a boy around Caboose's age who attended the boarding school of the area. He, Washington, and Tucker had all lived in the same neighborhood together for years.

"Apparently he has plans to hang out with his roommate then." Washington informed him, "That Doc kid or something?"

"Plans?" Tucker waggled his eyebrows and Washington groaned.

The blond's demeanor changed, however, when he saw Tucker's backpack, "How's school going?" he asked conversationally, clearly curious.

"About the same." Tucker shrugged.

"Good. Donut said he wanted to drill you hard," here, Washington made a slight grimace, "On it the next time you got together." Tucker rolled his eyes, causing Washington to let out a small sigh, "If you would actually just apply yourself," his considerate gaze landed on Grif, "Though I suppose that could apply to you too."

"Hey, don't lump me in with him." Grif stated, mock-offended.

"Hey!"

Carolina and Simmons both cut off Tucker's cry of indignation by muttering at the same time, " _That's not such a bad idea, really._ "

"Again, don't throw me into this." Grif told them.

Tucker shot a defiant look at Washington, "I'm not doing anymore calf training with you, so you can forget it." Then, into the awkward pause that followed this declaration, he muttered, "Dude, my legs are _still_ fucking sore."

Grif exchanged a look with Simmons, "I feel like we missed something." He muttered as the redhead nodded in agreement.

Washington self-consciously glanced over at a rather curious-looking Carolina, "I thought that leg training could help improve the mind too."

"Oh, studies have been done to that effect on all exercises." Simmons jumped in eagerly, ignoring Grif and Tucker's " _Nerd!_ " comment.

Carolina raised an eyebrow, "We should try training together more often then." She suggested to Washington, "Maybe we could even bring York along if you think he'd keep up."

Washington blushed, oddly enough, "Might be hard, given our schedules…" He trailed off as if super embarrassed that this conversation was happening at all.

Tucker raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in the two Freelancers' interaction as Grif and Simmons once again exchanged a look. Grif merely shrugged his shoulders in response, clearly not understanding the new dynamic.

"Carolina!"

Two more voices suddenly called out Carolina's name, and then both Vanessa Kimball and Dylan Andrews were heading into the cafeteria and straight to their group's direction. The newcomers were both seniors at the school who had extracurricular activities that kept them there late after normal dismissal.

"I thought that was you!" Kimball smiled at her friend as they approached, "What brings you here?"

With the apparently welcome intrusion, Washington was quick to divert attention away from his earlier awkwardness, "Oh! Um, there was something she wanted to drop off to her brother…" he began.

Dylan and Kimball both seemed amused by the young man's commentary as he hopelessly trailed off. Carolina decided to take pity on him and turned to Kimball, "How's Sarge doing? And the community center?"

"Oh, he's fine!" Kimball smiled brightly at the mention of her foster father, "Speaking of the center, I wanted to ask you…"

Caboose, meanwhile, had caught sight of Church through the classroom window, "Church, hello!" He grinned happily and waved close up to the glass to gain his friend's attention, "Are you talking to Tex? Can you tell her I said hi too?"

Church cut off whatever he was saying on the phone to look over at Caboose before seeing the others behind the middle schooler and promptly zoning in on Carolina's suddenly scowling face. He cursed so loudly that Kimball, in her capacity as hall monitor, gave him a demerit.

* * *

Grif made his way to the creepy, abandoned building that served as Felix's " _hideout_ ," rather glad that the friendly gathering at school hadn't lasted much longer after Church got in trouble yet again.

 _He'd seen Simmons and Kai off, and had quickly excused himself from the others who hadn't seemed to notice that anything was off. Tucker had shot him a worried look for a split-second that he thought maybe Dylan had noticed, but she wasn't close enough friends with them yet to speak up about it when it was so obvious that the others weren't in the know. Truthfully, Grif was just glad that he'd left before the two Church siblings got into yet_ another _argument about life choices._

Felix's group, while shady in regards to their practices and methods, did do legitimate work. Only it was the kind of jobs that didn't require much paperwork, and the payments were always under the table and in cash. They were the perfect jobs for someone who was trying to save up money in a hurry. Grif couldn't wait to buy a place for himself and Kai, to invite Simmons over to at least spend long periods there away from his family.

Granted, he hadn't told Simmons or anyone else about that part yet. He kind of hoped that he could convince Kai to do it because she was friends with the nerd and it would be hella less awkward if it came from her than him. Naturally, he couldn't afford to get on Felix's bad side and mess this up. Felix cut anyone out the second he felt they were unreliable.

So, even though Grif felt that something about this job might not be as shady legitimate as the ones in the past had been, he was determined to go to the meeting anyways so as to not get cut out of the loop.

"You're late." Locus' deep voice dashed all of his hopes at once as the towering nineteen-year-old appeared from where he'd been apparently lurking in the shadows.

Grif nearly jumped, though he was quick to try to explain himself, "Y—yeah, sorry about that. I needed to arrange for someone to look over my sister."

"Hmm." Locus seemed to mull this over and then finally nodded as if in understanding. Weirdly enough, Grif was relieved it had been him that he had run into instead of Felix, "Fortunately for you, several others are late as well." Locus finally said.

" _What the fuck ever happened to punctuality?!_ " As if on cue, Felix's ranting could be heard from inside the building.

"So the odds of him being angry with you since you're still earlier than most are slim." Locus concluded.

Grif nodded and swallowed thickly, glad for the save and wondering briefly if Kai and Simmons had made it home by now. He followed Locus inside, never figuring out if the older teen had just been outside to scare people as they entered or what, hoping that this meeting wouldn't be about _too_ nefarious a job even as he forced himself to continue to ignore the dread that had begun to pool in his gut.

It was probably for the best if Locus and Felix thought he was too lazy to care about the rules anyways. Like a fucking maverick.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** I'm so sorry that it took so long to get this second chapter out, but I'm definitely planning on continuing and finishing this story along with my other WIPs, of course!

I don't know if I'll be able to get anything else out before the holidays hit us, so I hope that everyone who celebrates has a Merry Christmas if I don't! :D

Thank you, as always, for your patience and for reading! :)


	3. Chapter Three: Keep Moving

**Other Notes/Warnings for This Chapter:**

~Misgendering by a definite jerk.

* * *

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Three: Keep Moving

Dexter Grif walked the rest of the way to the Simmons' household in absolute silence, his mind mulling over what Felix had announced were the details of their next assignment. This new _"job"_ was definitely different from any of the ones they had done before, and _way_ more illegal. Truth be told, the chubby teenager had known it would be before Felix had gone over the details.

But, Felix had said, _"Think of your part of the plan as insurance to ensure that nobody gets hurt."_ That was followed up with _"Besides, it would be a real shame if your precious little sister or those nice folks you two are staying with became wise to what you've been doing, right?"_ It was pretty damn obvious that Grif wasn't really being given a choice in the matter. Felix sarcastically thanking him for his services pretty much cemented that assumption.

As he opened the door to the Simmons family's impressively huge house, Grif expected an empty first floor. After all, by this time the younger Simmons would have finally gotten Kai into bed despite her attempts to stay up as late as possible. Usually, Mrs. Simmons retreated to her bedroom right about now for _"beauty sleep"_ as she called it, while Mr. Simmons would probably either be at his mistress' place or in his study upstairs.

" _Where, exactly, have you been?_ "

The teen was completely taken aback when the senior Simmons' voice spoke up in his usual icy, demanding tone.

Grif blinked and tried to quickly recover from his shock by acting as nonchalant and laidback as possible considering he knew that the older male viewed him as a _"lazy good-for-nothing"_ to begin with. He shrugged his shoulders in a display of feigned indifference, "I was hanging out with friends at work."

Simmons' jackass dad growled, "It's bad enough that degenerates like you and your _brother_ ," Grif narrowed his eyes, barely holding his tongue if _only_ because Kai wasn't there and Simmons Senior at least never said that bullshit to her face, "Are even breathing the same air as us. I don't want to find out that you're doing anything that might damage our reputation further."

Grif bit down on his lower lip almost to the point of drawing blood to keep from saying what he _really_ wanted to tell Simmons Senior in response, "Of course not, sir." He managed to ground out instead, ignoring the bile building up in the back of his throat, the whole unpleasant encounter reminding him exactly _why_ he needed to get himself and Kai out of here.

The older man sneered, but apparently felt the conversation ended as he quickly left the estate. Mistress' place it was then. Grif in turned started heading up the stairs, suddenly feeling way more tired than usual.

He only made it about halfway to his and Kai's shared room when his phone beeped and, after fishing the device out of his pocket, he found himself staring at a message from Tucker.

" _So what happened with Felix?"_

The heavyset young man sighed and typed out a quick _"Tell you about it later."_ as a reply.

"Grif?"

The orange-wearing teen was just putting his phone away when he heard Simmons tentatively calling out his name. The other boy stood in the doorway to Grif's room, catching the older teen a bit off-guard. Must be a family trait.

"Yeah, it's me." He told him quickly, "Was Kai giving you any trouble?"

"Not really. She just went to sleep though." Simmons' face became rather red as he weakly added, "She'd been totally serious about binging on your ice cream stash."

Grif groaned at the thought of his prized, hard-earned hoard being gone, but his tone was rather fond all the same when he spoke, "Bet the two of you made quick work of it then, even though I've been stockpiling that shit for months."

But when Kaikaina Grif put her mind to something…

Simmons' even _more_ red-faced look told Grif all he needed to know. Kai won that round.

Simmons fidgeted in the doorway a second later, "So, ah, was work okay?" He asked tentatively, "You were gone pretty late this time."

Grif shrugged, feeling oddly touched by the redhead's concern and not wanting to dwell on _why_ too much, "It was fine." He said quickly in way of explanation, "We just had a meeting. It ran late."

"Oh." Simmons said in response. It looked as though he was inwardly debating saying more on the subject but held back, for which Grif was extremely grateful.

The chubby teen made his way carefully past Simmons and into his room, noticing that the bowls that the duo had used to pilfer his ice cream had been neatly stacked, no doubt by Simmons, and that Kai was sound asleep in her bed with its pink sheets with yellow stars motif.

"I—I should probably get going." Simmons said from behind him, offering a tentative, "Good night."

"Hold up." Grif muttered, hating himself for doing it but remembering Felix's reasoning as to _why_ he was the best fit for this particular part of the mission.

Simmons paused just outside the doorway and Grif let out a weary sigh, "Want to go visit that community center with me and Kai tomorrow just to see what it's all about?"

The happy smile that Simmons threw his way in response just about killed him in more ways than one.

* * *

The community center that Kimball's foster father Sarge ran in the city of Blood Gulch was, for some inexplicable reason that everyone had a hard time pinpointing, called the Warthog Community Center.

Richard "Dick" Simmons thought it _might_ have something to do with the abstract art sculpture that vaguely seemed animal-like out front, comprised of what was apparently refurbished and melted down shotguns. Sarge was known to be a tad eccentric, to say the least. Kai swore the statue was more like a fish than a warthog, and Grif was pretty adamant it was a puma. All three could at least agree that it was a terrible representation of whatever animal it was supposed to be. Modern art was odd like that.

The large building itself was pretty spacious and decently furnished. One could just tell that a lot of work and effort had been put into ensuring that the community center was well-maintained. There were loud groups of rather happy children of all ages running around, along with senior citizens and other adults of varying ages shooting the breeze or taking part in a multitude of activities. The staff was a smiling but probably overworked bunch comprised of both volunteers and those who were paid. This was Simmons' first time being there, and he was already mightily impressed.

"Hey, you three!" A voice called out a greeting to them, and the trio turned to see Vanessa Kimball waving from off to the side of the main entrance they'd stepped through only moments ago. "It's nice to see some familiar faces." She smiled brightly as she approached, a name tag on her brown and ice-colored shirt.

"Oh! That's right. Sarge runs this place, huh?" Simmons spluttered out without thinking.

"That's right, and I help out when I can." Kimball thankfully didn't seem to mind his temporary brain fart, "Sarge got this place up and running to give himself something to do with his parents' inheritance, though we now largely survive off of donations and fundraisers."

Grif had gotten oddly quiet at this turn in the conversation, though no one else but Simmons seemed to notice as Kimball regarded the trio thoughtfully with a tilt of her head, "What brings you here today?"

"Just looking." Grif stated nonchalantly, remarking, "We need any excuse we can get to get out of that house for a while."

"Grif!" Simmons chastised Grif instinctively.

The heavyset teen fixed him with a knowing look, "What?" he asked, "Like I'm wrong?"

…Yeah, okay, Simmons _really_ couldn't deny that his family was suffocating. He closed his mouth.

Surprisingly, Kimball didn't seem to judge harshly. In fact, a rather understanding look briefly past over her dark-skinned features, "There's a drawing program going on for kids now." She informed them instead, shooting a knowing look in Kai's direction in particular.

Kai's reaction was immediate: the little girl's brown eyes lit up and she started jumping up and down on the balls of her feet, "Oh, oh! I wanna try that!" She turned to her brother pleadingly, " _Please_ , Dex?"

"I can take her if you don't mind." Kimball offered, clearly thrilled the prospect had the intended effect.

Grif seemed to consider it a second more before giving a slight nod, "Sure, if you don't mind us loitering to see what else you guys have going on."

"Yes!" Kai grinned triumphantly and shot Grif and Simmons the peace sign with her fingers.

"Feel free to knock yourselves out." Kimball said with a smile on her face as she took an excited Kai's hand and led her down the hallway.

That just left Grif and Simmons standing there, Simmons shifting awkwardly on his feet as he looked over at the other young man, "What should we do then?" He asked him unsurely, the thought of social interaction suddenly looming overhead.

Grif shrugged before his head turned in the direction of one hallway in particular, "I don't know, but I'm definitely smelling food."

Before Simmons could protest, he was being dragged down the corridor.

* * *

That delicious food smell that Dexter Grif had caught wind of came from a room that appeared to be set up as a sort-of mess hall for the community center. Grif figured that it probably helped to provide a square meal or two to people who might not have access to them all the time, and he once again felt a giant stabbing sensation of guilt for whatever it was that Felix was planning.

He and Simmons got some sandwiches handed out by tired-looking but pleasant staff members and volunteers after being assured that, _"Yes, of course the children's art program was also provided with meals and drinks."_ —both teens putting money into the donation jar sitting on the edge of the counter.

"Nice." A familiar voice said from behind them, "Anyone who could afford to pay even just a little bit for their food here should since that helps provide the meals for those who can't."

"Carolina!" Simmons exclaimed excitedly and awkwardly at her sudden appearance, "What are you doing here?"

Grif recalled what he'd been thinking moments before and felt rather nervous himself at the police-officer-in-training's presence.

"Since Kimball's a friend, I volunteer here every once in a while." Carolina seemed more amused by their startled reactions than anything else, "For tutoring."

"Tutoring?" Simmons' green eyes lit up at the idea of there being even more academic programs here. Typical nerd.

Carolina seemed to read the younger teen's mind and shook her head, a smirk growing on her face, "It's for martial arts training, actually." She elaborated.

Which made perfect sense to Grif. Everyone knew how much of a hand-to-hand combat expert Carolina was even _before_ she had signed herself up for that bizarre Freelancer program her dad was running within the police force.

The redhead got her own lunch and promptly paid for it as well, the three leisurely making their way over to a table to eat, "You know," she stated conversationally as she eyed Grif and Simmons in-between bites of a peanut butter and banana sandwich, "Are either of you interested in martial arts? No one's signed up yet for today."

"Um…" Simmons bit his bottom lip nervously as he and Grif both looked at one another, no doubt trying to come up with a diplomatic way to say no to a nineteen-year-old who could well and truly kick their asses.

"I can make it fun." Carolina was not about to give up, however, and her green eyes twinkled mischievously as she offered, "I'll pay for a dessert if you end up getting a hit in."

"Deal." Grif was _never_ one to turn down an offer for food, and his response was knee-jerk even as his brain screamed at him to abort.

Simmons simply gaped at the slightly older teen in disbelief as to what he had just roped them into. It wouldn't be too long afterwards that they both realized what a monumental mistake Grif had made.

* * *

Grif's whole body ached as he limped from the training room. Carolina had called it quits just a few minutes ago, asking Grif to get them some water. He'd readily complied, simply eager to escape.

Over his shoulder, he could just see Carolina out of the corner of his eye patting Simmons' no doubt bruised shoulder, "You really didn't do too bad," she tried assuring the nerdy redhead, "I think you both could improve if you came by regularly."

Grif probably owed Simmons about fifty deserts for signing them up for that torture. He sighed, wondering just how much of his own money he'd be putting into a place that Felix planned to eventually steal from. Felix was _sure_ it would all pan out. After all, places like the Warthog Community Center had to have insurance for this kind of thing, right? At least, that had been Felix's argument.

The tan-skinned teen wondered how Kai was doing and decided to go check on her first before getting the water. As he rounded a corner, he nearly bumped into Dylan Andrews going the opposite way. The blue-and-white-wearing Asian American seemed just as surprised to see him there as he was her.

"I don't believe I've seen you here before, Grif." Andrews stated conversationally.

"First time." He shrugged his shoulders indifferently, "I'm visiting with Kai and Simmons."

"I see."

A door opened next to them as a staff member exited, revealing what appeared to be some kind of office, complete with a key-lock safe off to the side. Grif swallowed nervously at the sight.

Dylan noticed his regard, her brown eyes falling on the safe as well just before the door closed. She sighed, "These days, it seems like you can never be too careful."

"Y—yeah." Grif tore his gaze away from the shut office door.

Dylan regarded him curiously, "Can I ask why you were curious about the safe in the first place?"

The orange-wearing young man shrugged, "It just seemed like an older one compared to some of the ones I've seen at work."

Andrews tilted her head to the side, "You mean your work for Felix, right?" She questioned.

He couldn't help but flinch at her direct query. Damn noisy reporter.

"Grif…" she began softly, as if trying to say something comforting or helpful that he _really_ couldn't afford to hear right now.

Fortunately, Simmons and Carolina rounded one corner of the hallway just as Kai and Kimball did the other, Kai's entire face lighting up at seeing her brother and Simmons, "Check out this awesome picture I did!" she exclaimed happily, holding out a purple and green landscape for them to gush over.

"That's amazing, Kai!" Simmons was quick to praise her for her hard work, holding his bruised left arm close to his side.

"Yeah," a slightly shaken Grif covered it up with a smile, "Awesome work, Kai."

The tan-skinned girl puffed out her chest proudly, "Was there ever any doubt?" She asked, clearly not about to hear any dissenters.

As everyone laughed at her display of phenomenal self-confidence, Grif turned to find Simmons regarding him rather worriedly. He maybe hadn't been as quick to cover up his troubled expression as he'd thought. Damn it. Since when was the nerd so perceptive? "Is everything all right?" The other boy asked nervously, "You'd been gone a while."

"Oh, yeah." Grif played it off like it was no big deal, trying to ignore just how touched he was at Simmons' concern, "Just got sidetracked, is all."

"We'd love to have you visit again." Kimball spoke up thankfully before Simmons could respond and question him further on the subject.

"Oh, can we?" A hopeful Kai asked, "I love it here!"

"I wouldn't mind either." Simmons assured both girls, smiling so much that Grif's breath caught in his throat.

Grif kept his gaze on both his sister and housemate, ignoring Dylan's still inquisitive stare as he smiled back and said, "Sure, I'd be all for it too."

…He tried his hardest not to feel guilty as recalled Felix's next job, failing miserably.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Gah, Felix is up to something definitely not good here! Poor Grif really is torn on what to do at the moment.

…Also, peanut butter and banana sandwiches are quite yummy! :) Lol, something tells me that Simmons and Grif might not be too eager to sign up for Carolina's lessons at the community center anytime soon no matter what she says on their potential! XD

There's only about two more chapters left before the timeskip happens! I hope you'll enjoy what it is coming up next!

Thank you so much for reading! :)


	4. Chapter Four: Revelations

**Other Notes/Warnings for This Chapter:**

~Misgendering by a definite jerk.

* * *

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Four: Revelations

"Where is Grif?"

Richard "Dick" Simmons started at the unfamiliar, gravely voice that had so bluntly addressed him. The redhead had to do a double-take to make sure that the towering stranger currently looming over him was, in fact, talking to him. It was like the guy had appeared out of nowhere.

Upon closer inspection, Simmons realized that the giant wasn't exactly a total stranger. They'd never spoken before, but the maroon-wearing teen vaguely recognized the imposing young man with a scar on his face as an acquaintance of Grif's from his mysterious work. Locus, maybe? Tucker hadn't seemed fond of either him or some guy named Felix, another of Grif's work _"friends."_ Why was this Locus person talking to Simmons, of all people?

"Umm." Simmons weakly squeaked out, his brain choosing to not be very helpful.

Locus seemed to wait patiently for about a second, as if he was used to having that sort of effect on people, which was somehow even more terrifying to think about. Apparently that silence grew irksome as he decided to repeat himself, "Where is Grif?" Locus asked, eyes narrowed.

The temperature seemed to drop around Simmons. They were both standing outside of Kai's favorite ice cream shop, the same one that she always managed to bribe Grif and Simmons to take her to for a frozen treat. All Simmons could do was inwardly pray that the little girl would linger inside after she finished going to the bathroom.

"Wh—why would you think I know?" Simmons tried countering with a question of his own shakily instead, feeling strangely protective, "And…and just why are you as—asking about Grif?"

The tan-skinned young man tilted his head slightly to the side as if considering Simmons, "I'm an acquaintance of his from work." Locus said evenly, which had Simmons once again debating on whether he wanted to know more about whatever it was Grif actually did for work or not, "Your name is Simmons, correct?" He asked, "The Grif siblings are staying at your house." Locus stated that last remark with so much fact that Simmons knew he already knew exactly who he was talking to. _Super creepy!_

Simmons nodded in response, swallowing nervously with his suddenly rather dry throat. What exactly _was_ Grif getting himself into, or was the redhead simply being too judgmental again? Locus caught on to Simmons' obvious nervousness and let out a seemingly uncharacteristic sigh, "I should apologize for having approached you in such a way." He got out in a rather surprisingly awkward manner, "I'm a stranger, after all."

Simmons relaxed slightly, some of his earlier nerves being replaced by embarrassment. He was about to reassure the imposing figure that it wasn't really a big deal…

" _Take that, dirtbag!_ "

…When suddenly Kaikaina Grif kicked her foot in Locus' shin with all the strength her smaller frame could muster. The blow had no apparent impact on Locus, who merely blinked in surprise, though Kai immediately winced and grabbed her foot gingerly.

"Kai!" Simmons raced to her in concern, "Are you okay?!"

"Ow!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, "He's made of steel!"

Locus merely watched her hopping on one foot for a few more seconds with Simmons anxiously hovering over her, an amused look in his dark eyes. She glared up at him all the same, however, "You better not be trying to shake Simmons down for money!" Kai vehemently declared, "'Cause that is totally my job!"

"Wait, what?!" Simmons squeaked out in response.

"C'mon, gray guy, keep up!" Kai told him with just a hint of exasperation in her voice, "I'm trying to protect you here!"

"You must be Grif's sister." Locus deduced.

The mention of her brother's name caused Kai to look over at him, "You know my big bro?" She asked, squinting up at him curiously.

"He's a co-worker of his." Simmons quickly explained to her, turning nervously to Locus as he stepped protectively in front of Kai to diffuse the situation, "We're sorry for the mix-up, and…!"

"It's not a problem." Locus quickly cut in, waving the apology away as unnecessary. He looked at the pair in an assessing manner, "Now I can almost understand why someone like Grif does this."

Kai and Simmons both turned to look at the other then, before regarding him once more with open confusion. Simmons stepped forward, hand raised as if to ask a question, "Er…"

"Grif hasn't reported in." Locus was quick to move the topic along, evidently.

"Report in?" Simmons couldn't help but repeat the rather odd term, wondering yet again just what kind of job it was Grif had. But because he really didn't get the sense that Locus was all that bad following this interaction, he answered truthfully, "He's helping to set up lessons at the community center."

"Yeah," Kai chimed in helpfully with a large grin on her face, "For when Dex and Simmons get their butts handed to them later by Carolina!"

Simmons could only blush in embarrassment at just how true her statement was.

"I see." Locus merely inclined his scarred head slightly at this new information.

"We could give him a message, if you want." Simmons tried politely offering.

But Locus merely waved the offer away, "No need." He informed them in his usual blunt manner of speech, "Grif is doing what he needs to. I'll just contact him through the usual channels." He turned to leave before pausing, as if thinking of something else, and glancing at the two of them over his shoulder, "I apologize again for the misunderstanding." He murmured before walking off and leaving them standing there.

"That guy was _way_ too weird and intense," Kai stated quietly after a few seconds had passed as Simmons nodded his head in quick agreement, "but I bet everyone thinks he's secretly hot." She concluded with a sly look in her brown eyes.

"Yeah, yeah…" Simmons said before her words caught up to his brain then, "Wait, what?!"

Kai's laughter at his flustered response lasted the whole way to the Warthog Community Center.

* * *

"Should we tell someone?" Dylan Andrews asked softly over the rim of her paper coffee cup as she sat on a bench with Lavernius Tucker, close to the community center's front doors.

It didn't take the dark-skinned young man anytime at all to catch on to what she was talking about, even though she'd brought the topic up without any sort of preamble. After all, there was only one thing the two schoolmates had been discussing together privately once they realized that they both had the same suspicions.

Tucker raised an eyebrow in her direction and scoffed, "Who'd we tell?" He asked her incredulously, "Wash and Carolina have a whole lot of shit on their plates with Freelancer training and…"

"You don't want to get Grif in trouble." Dylan gently surmised when he trailed off.

Tucker was rather annoyed at just how quickly she'd accurately guessed that, but he sighed and nodded his head all the same. "He isn't a bad guy." He noted, voice uncharacteristically quiet as he added, "He's just stupidly desperate when it comes to wanting to help his family." He sighed, "What's so wrong with that?"

"I know." Dylan told him succinctly, "Which is why I don't want to go to the police either." She frowned at the cup still in her hands, "But surely Kimball or her dad should know?"

"Only if we want them to get the police involved _or_ have them try to stop things themselves and get fucked over." Tucker told her without hesitation, as if it was something he'd mulled over quite a bit himself before. Knowing what he did of Sarge, that last possibility in particular seemed pretty likely. Tucker titled his head back and sighed, "It's a lose-lose situation."

"Maybe." Dylan noted, narrowing her brown eyes in thought, "But we might still be able to keep Grif from going down a path he'll regret." She flexed her fingers around her cup, "He _is_ our friend."

Tucker nodded his head enthusiastically, "What do you have in mind?"

Dylan's eyes landed on Simmons, so currently engrossed in a conversation with Kai that neither of them even noticed their friends sitting there as they walked past them to the center's doors. "We tell someone," she stated slowly, "But only so that they'll talk to Grif." She nodded her head slightly, "If we can get Grif on board with helping us out, we can go from there." She concluded.

Tucker gave a brief nod and sighed, "Oh man, I just hope the dumb nerd doesn't get so heartbroken that he cries or some shit."

* * *

Much to Simmons' fond amusement, Kai had finished all of her homework and was subsequently out like a light despite how difficult it usually was to get her to fall asleep.

"Apparently watching our asses get handed to us in Carolina's self-defense and martial arts classes tuckered her out. Go figure?" Grif noted wryly from his side of the bedroom, as if he'd been reading Simmons' mind.

"Seems that way." Simmons responded as he tried to work out a new kink in his shoulder, "Though I think I managed to last longer this time!"

Grif snorted, "Yeah, a whole new record of ten seconds as opposed to five."

The redhead smiled slightly, "That totally counts as an improvement!"

"Whatever you say, nerd." The orange-wearing young man threw a pillow at him, one of those fancy pillows that his mom put everywhere but had a fit if someone actually used. Simmons very lamely didn't dodge to keep it from hitting a dozing Kai. Grif snickered as Simmons made his way out of the room with a casually tossed out " _Asshole!_ " over his shoulder.

Simmons was about to go to his own room to get ready for bed too, but he heard the sound of muffled-yet-raised voices coming from his parents' side of the hallway. The young man found that to be immensely odd, as the two had pretty much developed completely separate sleeping routines.

At first, he debated if he even wanted to know what they were arguing about, but his overall curiosity got the better of him. Besides, he figured that the knowledge could prove helpful in avoiding stress later as he inched over to the barely opened door. It was almost as if someone had slammed it shut but hadn't bothered to check if the lock had properly latched. His parents were getting sloppy.

"How long do you plan on keeping up this farce?" Simmons' father was demanding.

His mother sniffed disdainfully at the older man's theatrics, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Richard."

"Oh, _please_." There was a sneer in Simmons Senior's voice, "You are many things, but an idiot isn't one of them." He continued with an icy tone, "How long do you plan on our house being a juvie and an asylum for two boys who _clearly_ belong in real ones?"

Simmons felt a sharp pain in his heart, but he couldn't move from the spot. It was as if he was rooted to the floor.

"Their parents abandoned them because of that youngest one." His mother argued.

Simmons' dad laughed, sharp and humorless, "Don't kid yourself into thinking you're doing this out of altruism or some kind of maternal instinct." He informed her bitingly, "After all, you didn't even want Richard!"

Simmons couldn't fucking move, couldn't fucking _breathe_.

"Neither did you." Simmons' mom noted with more than a passing note of continued disdain in her voice, "But people talk and we couldn't very well back out of it, and now we're all stuck here if you don't want to ruin your precious image."

Simmons seriously couldn't breathe. He felt his body sagging to the floor, but it was as if it was happening from far away. Someone's hand gripped his shoulder tightly, bringing the maroon-wearing teen back to reality once more as his father scoffed again from behind the door, "Oh, we're stuck pretending all right!"

Grif said nothing as he signaled with a silent tilting of his head for the other teen to follow him, pulling the lanky redhead along when he didn't immediately respond towards Simmons' own bedroom.

* * *

Dexter Grif settled Simmons down to a sitting position on the redhead's bed, Simmons obediently following the motion as his entire being was currently lost in a sea of shock and panic. Grif stood in front of him for a long moment, as if contemplating just what to say. It didn't seem to take him too long to settle on something: "They're both assholes."

Simmons flinched at how plainly those words were said, but he could only shakily nod his head in agreement as tears started stinging his eyes, "S—sorry. I'm sorry, Grif."

Grif blinked in surprise, taken aback by the vehement apology Simmons had blurted out, "Why?"

"Because!" Simmons gripped his knees so tightly that they actually hurt, unable to look Grif in the face, "Because they're assholes who dragged you and Kai into their mess, and—" he was practically gasping for air now, "And I'm the son of said assholes, so…!"

He could barely breathe again as Grif's larger weight settled onto the mattress next to him, and Simmons was taken completely off-guard by the arm that wrapped around his skinny shoulders to pull him rather firmly against the other teen.

"You're _nothing_ like them, Simmons." Grif said in a low voice with finality, "You're upfront in how you deal with me and Kai. Even if you _are_ a nerdy kiss-ass, you at least care."

Simmons sniffled, "B—but…!"

"No buts about it." Grif told him firmly, "When we have enough money to get out of here, you're totally coming with us."

Simmons knew it was beyond wishful thinking, but he looked over at Grif with a mixture of incredulity, touched all the same, "You…you really mean that?" He weakly got out.

"Of course." Grif confirmed with a nod of his head that had his chin resting on top of Simmons' hair briefly, "Unlike both our sets of parents, I'm not an asshole."

Simmons let out a small, shaky laugh, noticing Grif's arm continuing to be wrapped around him but choosing not to comment on it as he futilely wiped at his tears, "Well…" he began in a weak attempt at a joke.

"Oh can it, kiss-ass." Grif smiled in return even before he could finish, bringing his own face close to Simmons', "You're a pretty ugly crier."

"Everyone is!" A flustered Simmons tried protesting.

Grif simply smirked teasingly in response, "Uh-huh. Whatever, nerd."

They settled into a comfortable sort-of silence, as if the two of them were the only people who even existed in that moment. Naturally, Grif's phone buzzed in his pocket. He looked down at the lit up screen with an unreadable expression, Simmons noticing and tensing up himself, "What's wrong?" He asked, clearly concerned.

"Nothing." Grif tried unsuccessfully to convince him, "Just a message from work."

Simmons was about to question him on it further when Grif shifted his position on the bed and ended up pulling Simmons practically flush against his body as he laid down, Simmons suddenly finding that he couldn't say a word over the loud pounding of his heart.

* * *

The message had been rather simple. Felix was starting to get paranoid that this new job they were doing, the very first one where he _finally_ wouldn't have to share any of the profit with another equally shadowy group, was beginning to take too long and that the crazy old guy who ran the Warthog Community Center might catch on to what they were up.

" _Let's get to it then."_

They were going to go ahead with the next phase tomorrow night, and the meaning behind the succinct message was pretty clear to anyone at all familiar with Felix and his mannerisms. _Everyone_ had best be ready and onboard for this. As Grif still held a now newly dozing Simmons against him, he frowned and tried desperately to ignore the way his brain was currently screaming out that he really didn't want to be a part of this.

But, Grif argued inwardly, it was for the future. His _and_ Kai's. Maybe even Simmons' now too given what he'd just sincerely said to the redhead after the incident with his jackass parents earlier.

He _had_ to…

…Right?

* * *

Simmons stood just outside the school grounds, waiting for Kai to finish the rather animated conversation she was having with her favorite teacher. Grif and Simmons' parents had recently managed to get the redhead permission to pick her up after school now too, though he wasn't sure how that exactly came to be. Grif merely told him not to worry about it with an indifferent and rather bored shrug of his shoulders when Simmons had asked which, admittedly, was more explanation than his parents had offered.

Simmons did have to wonder just _why_ it was that Grif had asked him for this current favor earlier, and just why it was that the heavyset teen had spent the rest of the day avoiding him afterwards. Considering the previous night…

He felt his heart start to ache again at the memory of his parents' harsh words, at the same time that it felt as though his entire body heated up at the memory of the shocking warmth lacing Grif's, quickly shaking his head in order to lamely prevent an overly-curious Kai from accusing him of looking _"weird"_ again as she walked over.

"Hey, Simmons?"

He all but jumped at the sound of Tucker's voice and he turned around, rather surprised to see an uncharacteristically serious Tucker and equally concerned-looking Dylan standing right behind him. Neither looked as though they necessarily _wanted_ to be there, and alarm bells started to ring in his head.

"Y—yeah?" Simmons shakily asked, unsure as to why either of his schoolmates would be seeking him out.

The two looked over at one another and then, as if on some silent cue, Dylan sighed. She came to rest an awkward hand on the redhead's shoulder, ignoring how the physical contact caused him to slightly flinch, "It's about Grif." She told him without any preamble, both her and Tucker then quickly diving into what they knew.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Things are about to get pretty intense here in the next chapter as everything hits the fan all at once! We're getting close to the timeskip now. :)

As always, thank you so much for reading! :D


	5. Chapter Five: Half Life

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Five: Half Life

"No way," Richard "Dick" Simmons couldn't believe what he'd just been told, positive that he must have mistaken it somehow, "You…you must have gotten it wrong." He stated finally, before his green eyes narrowed in suspicion towards Tucker, "Or is this some kind of joke?"

That _had_ to be it, and there was just some punchline that Simmons wasn't able to find funny. Because Grif wouldn't… Tucker frowned, looking rather reluctant to even be having this conversation, "Afraid not, dude."

Dylan gave Simmons a sympathetic look, raising her hand as if to try and reassure him once more, "I know how hard all of this must be to hear." She began, hesitant to continue.

No, Simmons thought as he bit down on his bottom lip so hard he nearly drew blood, she didn't because there was no fucking way what the two were telling him was even remotely true, "Grif wouldn't…" he began weakly in protest.

"What about Big Bro?"

The trio turned to see Kai had jogged over to their location outside her school, the young girl staring up rather curiously due to what she had overheard. An awkward silence settled over the group, all three teenagers staring at the ground as they tried to think of how exactly to respond to her innocent query. It was only broken when Caboose suddenly came in to view, waving.

"Hello!" Caboose greeted pleasantly, seemingly oblivious to the uncomfortable tension in the air just then, "It is odd for you to be here, Tucker." He peered at the dark-skinned teen inquisitively, "Are you waiting for Church and Sheila too?"

Tucker scoffed rather incredulously, "Why would either of them want to meet in front of an elementary school?"

"Because it is close to the high school." Caboose stated plainly, as if explaining something to a toddler, "Obviously."

"That makes no sense!" Tucker told him emphatically, "They _go_ to the high school."

"You're not making much sense, Tucker. You go to the high school too."

"So what were you guys saying about Dex?" Kai asked, obviously feeling it was as good a time as any to repeat her earlier question.

Dylan looked between her and Simmons, apparently unsure if she should bring the matter up in front of Grif's little sister. All Simmons was really aware of was the loud pounding of his heart in his ears, and he found himself turning in the direction of the Warthog Community Center before he even realized what he was doing. Either way, he had to make sure Grif was okay.

"Watch Kai for me, okay?" Simmons called over his shoulder to a surprised Dylan and a bewildered Tucker.

"Hey, wait up!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Simmons, we should wait and think—!" Dylan started, but Simmons didn't stop running and the brunette's words cut off.

He _needed_ to find Grif.

* * *

Dexter Grif met up with Felix, Locus, and the rest of their flunkies outside of their usual hideout, a heavy feeling already forming in the pit of his stomach.

Felix smirked when he noticed the heavyset teen, "You actually showed up on time for once." He said in way of greeting, "Looks like someone finally decided to drop the good big brother act."

"Felix." Locus surprisingly growled out Felix's name as if in warning.

Grif shot Locus a thankful look before narrowing his dark eyes in Felix's direction, "The only reason I'm doing any of this is because of family."

The skinny brown-haired young man merely shrugged his shoulders indifferently at Grif's statement, "Whatever you say, man." Felix told him, "Don't go being so dramatic though! Thanks to your scouting, we've a good idea of when everyone will be gone so it's not like anyone's going to get fucking hurt."

"Except all the people who've benefited from those donations." Grif couldn't keep from grumbling out.

"We can be those people now too." Felix reasoned, giving Grif a forceful pat on the shoulder to help get his head in the game, "Besides, once news spreads about what happened, the place is bound to get _double_ that in charitable donations. People love sob stories, so it's a total win-win."

Grif's frown deepened and he found that he couldn't respond, his mind flashing to Kai and Simmons.

"We need to get this over with." Locus told Felix just then before he could get further annoyed by Grif's apparent lack of enthusiasm.

Felix smirked over at the towering nineteen-year-old, "And here I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Simmons managed to reach the community center just after it had closed for the day. He stood in front of the locked entrance, desperately trying to catch his breath to think of what he could do. If Grif had been here earlier for scouting, wouldn't he have already left? Unless, and his heart was starting to thump wildly again as he felt his stomach clenching in anxiety, they were going to be making a move soon, which would mean…

A bright light from off to his left suddenly flashed in his eyes and Simmons jumped at its appearance, "G—Grif?" He tentatively called out despite himself, unsure if it was him or one of Felix's cronies or…

"Simmons?" Vanessa Kimball's voice responded to his query instead, clearly startled by his presence. He looked over at her in utter shock as she turned the flashlight beam thankfully away from his face, "What are you doing here?" She asked, obviously not taking him as a threat.

"Um," Simmons' mind was oh-so-helpfully drawing a blank on how to respond, so he just threw her question back at her, "What…what are you doing here?"

Kimball raised an eyebrow but apparently decided to humor the younger redhead all the same, "Sarge usually patrols the grounds after closing, but he had business to take care of." She looked a bit sheepish as she admitted, "I'm a bit late today because of schoolwork."

"I—I see." Simmons felt his throat go dry, still unsure what to say. A part of him wanted to warn her (without mentioning Grif, of course), but…

They both heard a strange screeching sound that was reminiscent of something decidedly tough being ripped apart just then, a piercing groan erupting through the air. It came from inside the building.

"What _was_ that?!" Kimball exclaimed, already sprinting into action and heading past Simmons to unlock the front doors. Simmons' trepidation only grew as he raced to follow her.

* * *

The industrial strength, heavy duty metal cutters that Felix had somehow gotten one of his guys to acquire made rather short work of separating the safe from its wall, and Felix practically _beamed_ as they loaded the entire thing onto a cart, "Let's see them try and get fingerprints off of something missing." He smirked, face alighting in the dark.

Grif, meanwhile, stood off to the side. He just wanted tonight to be fucking over and done with. He wanted…

"What's going on here?!"

He started from his troubled thoughts at the sound of Kimball's demanding voice. Trepidation ate away at him as the dark-skinned teen stepped into the room, immediately followed by…

"Simmons?!" Grif exclaimed at the exact same time that worried green eyes came to rest on his heavyset frame.

"Grif!"

"What…what the fuck are you doing here?" Grif demanded, unsure of who he was angrier with: himself or Simmons.

It seemed Simmons was too upset to even answer Grif's shocked query, "So it's true then?" The redhead asked instead with a shaky, trembling note to his voice, "What were you thinking?"

Grif opened his mouth to respond but no sound came out. He couldn't quite meet Simmons' questioning gaze.

"Felix." Kimball stated simply as she stepped protectively in front of the younger Simmons.

"Vanessa." Felix snidely smirked, "Shouldn't honor students like you be in bed now?"

Kimball ignored the jab and glanced at everyone still lingering in the room, "There's still time to make things right." She said slowly, deliberately, "You can all just walk away and no one will have to know what happened."

"Yeah, right." Felix rolled his eyes at the offer and then shot her a malicious look, "We're walking out of here, though. With what we came for."

Suddenly, he and some of the others were slamming the cart forward at a breakneck pace.

"Simmons!" Grif barely had any time to call out to his friends, "Kimball!"

Locus had just been close enough that he managed to grab ahold of Simmons' arm and pull him out of the way.

But the cart ended up hitting Kimball head-on, and there was a loud, sickening _crack_ that came from her legs as it pinned her against the other side of the hallway beyond. She screamed like how Grif had _never_ heard someone scream before and then collapsed over the safe.

"F—fuck." Grif repeated quite a few times along with some of the others as Felix calmly stepped towards the cart again to move it like what had happened was no big deal.

"We should really get going now." Felix noted matter-of-factly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Shock and indignation spurred Grif to action then, "No one was supposed to get hurt!"

"Things change all the time." Felix shrugged indifferently, "It was just her crappy luck that she happened to be here." He turned his attention suddenly to Simmons then, who was standing off to the side alone and terrified, "As for you…" Felix took a step towards him, relishing how the younger teen flinched.

"That's enough, asshole." Grif stepped between the two, "You're _not_ touching Simmons and we're getting an ambulance for Kimball."

He was met with dangerously narrowed eyes, "Do you _really_ want to do this?" Felix muttered, "Please tell me you do!"

Grif gritted his teeth, "Asshole!"

Suddenly, there was a glint of metal in Felix's hand and he swiped the knife forward…

Only for _Simmons_ to get in the way of it hitting Grif, the sharp blade slicing through his arm instead. He cried out and was crouching on the floor just a split-second later, blood streaming through his fingers onto the tiles below.

"Holy fuck! Simmons!" Grif was right there with him, unsure of what exactly to do to stop the bleeding.

Felix spat, "Guess you two morons want to be dealt with together." He stabbed out with the knife once more, but Locus' sudden grip on his arm stopped him from going through with the motion, forcing him to drop the knife with a clatter to the floor.

"That's enough, Felix." Locus told him with finality, "I've already called the police."

"You're betraying me too?" Felix accused heatedly.

"You had said no one was going to get hurt." Locus' tone was blunt, "You lied first."

"You're such a dumbass." Felix scoffed, though he was quick to bolt along with the rest of his men when they heard the telltale wailing of police sirens in the distance.

Locus glanced over at Grif, Simmons, and Kimball, "I am sorry." He got out surprisingly softly as he disappeared himself, leaving Grif there to hold onto Simmons tightly.

* * *

The police were never able to catch Felix, who left town after his oh-so-perfect plan failed so spectacularly. They did, however, arrest a few of his cohorts who hadn't been nearly as smart or fortunate enough to have quick escape plans. No one seemed brave enough to say that Locus had been involved, and there was a silent agreement between Kimball, Grif, and Simmons to _"forget"_ that he'd even been there. Likewise, Sarge decided to not press any charges against Grif because he'd ultimately tried helping out Simmons and Kimball.

Simmons had significant nerve damage in his arm that the experts weren't sure would ever fully heal, and Kimball's legs…well, she could still walk at least but it took a lot of effort. They were both going to the same rehabilitation center, and there were many times when their appointments seemed to overlap so both would sit together in the white-and-gray waiting room to discuss recent events.

Kimball smiled, "Grif and Kai are doing well."

The one positive that had come out of the situation was that Sarge had taken one look at the Grif siblings and insisted they stay with him and Kimball, an arrangement that Simmons' parents were more than happy to agree to following what they only ever referred to as _"that incident."_ Simmons suspected Sarge would have even probably taken him in if his parents weren't so preoccupied with keeping up their appearances.

Simmons was glad to hear the Grif siblings were doing well, though he smiled sadly at the news all the same. He hated how difficult it was to talk to them now without his parents finding out, especially since Grif still had a hard time even looking him in the eye at school. He was going to be transferred soon, and…!

There was a rustling off to the side as Kimball rifled through her backpack, finally pulling out the item she'd been looking for and passing it along to Simmons. It was another hand drawn _Get Well Soon_ card from Kai, the message ending with _"We both miss you."_ in her swirly handwriting. Kimball's smile was sympathetic as she watched him hastily rub at his burning eyes without, thankfully, commenting on it.

"Things are bound to get better, Simmons," she told him resolutely, "And that should have a lot of weight, coming from me." She didn't say it in any sort of self-pitying way, and Simmons couldn't help but smile slightly and shakily nod his head in response.

"Richard Simmons? Vanessa Kimball?" A cheerful voice called out their names just then. Both turned to see a dark-skinned girl around their ages standing there, surprisingly donning white with purple lining scrubs herself. She beamed at them, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" Before either of them could respond, she happily continued, "My name is Emily Grey, and I'm going to be helping with your rehabilitation starting today!"

* * *

"Oh, so you're friends with Tucker too?" Franklin Delano Donut asked cheerily as he helped Simmons carry his few belongings into his new dorm room though the redhead had insisted on carrying the backpack with Kai's _Get Well_ cards himself, "I am too! In fact, we're neighbors."

It hadn't taken long for his parents to decide that his normal school wasn't a good environment, though Simmons suspected that they just didn't really want him at home anymore.

Simmons tried smiling at Donut's enthusiastic tone, "With Wash too, right?"

"That's right!" Donut grinned, "The three of us always make a sticky, hot mess together."

"Um…" Simmons honestly wasn't sure how to respond to that particular phrasing.

Donut, meanwhile, was too engrossed in carrying on their small talk to even notice Simmons' hesitation, "Lopez is expecting a new roommate any day now too, but he's off with his girlfriend right now so introductions will have to wait."

"Uh-huh." Simmons could swear that name sounded somewhat familiar…

The dirty blond stopped right in front of a shut door, muffled voices coming from the other side. He smiled encouragingly at Simmons as he raised his hand and knocked. The door opened completely, and the glasses-wearing student known for some reason as Doc that Simmons met at orientation stood there.

"Oh hey, Donut!" Doc said in a happy tone before grinning at Simmons behind him, "And Simmons! You must be Biff's new roommate."

"What, he's here already?" A new voice asked as Doc moved off to the side to reveal a brown-haired teen in orange (Simmons tried desperately not to think of Grif just then), and a black-haired individual donned in cobalt sitting at the two desks in the small dorm.

"The one in orange who just spoke is your roommate, Biff," Doc politely explained to Simmons, inclining his head to the other person in the room a second later, "And he's his best friend, Temple."

"I hope you won't mind me invading your space too much." Temple joked in way of greeting as Biff raised his hand up in a lazy sort-of wave (again, Simmons tried really hard to not think about Grif right then), "What's up, late transfer?"

Simmons blinked, feeling slightly overwhelmed. In the pit of his stomach was a sinking feeling that the rest of this school year at his second change of residence in such a short amount of time was going to be every bit as eventful as his first had been. The redhead walked into the dorm, shutting the door closed behind him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Next chapter will be the start of the timeskip! I hope you enjoyed this update, I had a lot of feelings while writing it out.

Thank you so much for reading! :D


	6. Chapter Six: Pep Talk

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Six: Pep Talk

Richard "Dick" Simmons stood in front of his tiny apartment's bathroom mirror, resisting the suddenly overwhelming urge to punch it. He fought back stinging tears as he nervously rubbed his flesh and blood fingers over his _"newly enhanced"_ cybernetic arm, knowing that a certain Doctor Emily Grey would most certainly not appreciate him getting blood on her hard work so soon after he'd been outfitted with it. Besides, tearstains and blood would hardly endear himself to his new place of work.

Simmons still couldn't help that knee jerk reaction he always got looking in the mirror, initially brought on by his self-loathing at failing tests because of school pressure and anxiety. Biff simply never mentioned it, and the redhead felt no small amount of sadness at thinking of his former roommate. Temple had sworn to Simmons he wouldn't tell anyone that one time he happened to walk in on a particularly bad episode while in search of Biff. His need to punch mirrors continued with the constant rejections he received in both his personal and professional life, especially after constantly failing job interview after job interview.

After his fifth failed interview, his nerves had gotten worse, especially when his parents had evidently had enough of their _"crippled, defective"_ son and moved away from Blood Gulch, as if to increase their distance from his utter ineptitude. On one hand, Simmons was almost relieved to not have to deal with them so directly anymore, but the rejection still hurt all the same, reminding him of being sent to boarding school following his injury. The redhead sighed. He wasn't doing himself any favors by dwelling on the past, no matter how painful it still was.

After all, things _had_ started to look up since Doctor Grey became an expert in the newly developed field of cybernetics, charitable enough to offer her friends Simmons and Kimball her latest research to test out. As a result, Simmons finally had full range of motion back in his arm and Kimball wasn't struggling to walk anymore. Kimball had been kind enough to mention that the Warthog Community Center was in desperate need of someone tech-savvy to possibly teach lessons and to help maintain their computers, and Simmons had been overjoyed when Sarge, after only meeting him just once following graduation, offered him the job.

Simmons knew the job offer was probably due to his connections to his charges and the fact that Sarge felt pity for what had happened to his arm more than anything else, but it was _still_ a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it wasn't the type of job his parents had wanted for him. Besides, it meant that the redhead didn't have to leave Blood Gulch anytime soon, that he could reconnect with his old friends again, like he already had with Kimball, Grey, and Doc.

The maroon-wearing man even made it a point to not mention exactly _when_ he would be starting his job at the community center to Kai in their continuing correspondence, so that the younger woman would be surprised. Both Kimball and Sarge had agreed to keep quiet too. Thinking of Kai had Simmons' mind immediately going to her older brother, and he couldn't help but frown somewhat at the reminder. Dexter Grif would be working at the center too, which was the one thing that Simmons wasn't keen on.

It wasn't that the two _hadn't_ ever seen each other since _"the incident"_ had occurred. They had their occasional run-ins, and Simmons always made it a point to ask Kai how the other man was doing. But those few run-ins had been curt and painfully distant, especially on Grif's end. Though Simmons still received messages from Kai and some of his other friends at times, Grif had never once sent him anything. The redhead was honestly not even sure if any of his holiday messages had ever reached the heavyset man, save for the fact that he knew Kimball and Kai always got theirs.

Seeing Grif again on a daily basis was going to be hard. Simmons bit his lip and wondered just why it was that he still constantly thought of Grif when it was so painfully obvious that the same couldn't be said for the tan-skinned man. Simmons shook his head and tore his gaze away from the mirror before his clenched fists did anything he'd most certainly regret, knowing that he should be focusing on positives right now and not on the negative.

His phone beeped not a second later, a message from Mark Temple coming through, _"Good luck on your first day."_

Simmons smiled at his friend's text and was quick to type out a response, _"Today's just going to be a tour since I haven't been there in a while, but thanks."_

" _Still,"_ Temple was quick to reply back, _"Play nice and make some new friends."_

" _I will."_ Simmons' response was immediate before his mind drifted back to Grif once more, secretly hoping that maybe he could reconnect with an old friend while he was at it, yet he couldn't help but wonder if maybe that wasn't just extremely wishful thinking on his part.

* * *

Carolina blocked Dexter Grif's blow effortlessly, once more knocking him down to the mats, "Again." She told him as she helped the chubby man back up to his feet.

"Let's not and say we did." Grif groaned out as he stood on smarting legs, "Whatever happened to me teaching you relaxation techniques instead?"

Carolina raised a red eyebrow in response, "You still always come by for these lessons that you really don't have to take me up on, you know," she pointed out, "Especially if they bother you so much."

"Your class would be pretty fucking empty then." Grif muttered, "What without some poor soul to demonstrate ass-kicking on."

"True." The redhead tilted her head to the side in contemplation, "I have some younger students now, but that's honestly because we've been sparring." She frowned, "Apparently _some_ people find me too intimidating to approach on my own."

"I can't imagine why." Grif mused out loud, brown eyes shining in amusement.

She rolled her eyes and swatted his arm, "I should make you go a few more rounds just for that."

"All right."

Carolina paused at the fact that Grif seemed to be agreeing to her joking suggestion, and she turned to face him with an assessing look in her green eyes. He never missed the workouts, but it wasn't like her friend to want to put in more than their allotted time for them. Carolina saw his eyes land nervously on the community center's door as if looking for someone through its small window, and understanding dawned across her features, "Ah," she stated knowingly, "When is he supposed to be coming in, exactly?"

Grif frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit." She noted, "Kai already told me that Simmons would be starting work here."

"Oh yeah," Grif rubbed at his chin in a way that made it obvious he was faking nonchalance, "Sarge may have mentioned that."

Carolina sighed and shook her head, "You're going to run into him eventually, no matter how long you try to avoid it."

Grif's shoulders slumped, "Believe me, I know." He sighed himself, "But that doesn't make the whole thing any easier."

"If you just tried talking to him…" she suggested, trailing off when she realized it was a moot point given Grif's stubbornness.

"Anything I can say is probably going to fall under the _too little, too late_ category, so why even bother?" Grif asked her, almost challenging her to give a compelling reason.

"Because he's a friend?" Carolina tried reasoning as she reached over and patted Grif's shoulder, "Because it's better to say _something_ than to live life full of regrets."

For a brief moment, the older redhead's face twisted in pain and Grif knew she was thinking about what had happened to her family. Suddenly, he felt strangely guilty for a second, "Maybe I'll try once I see him around." He finally stated at length, though he sincerely doubted that Simmons would want much of anything to do with him despite whatever Kai or Kimball said.

"That's the spirit!" Carolina smirked, putting her things away. No doubt she would be hanging around until Washington came by later, as was her usual routine.

"Yeah, I should go." Grif excused himself, rubbing at the sore spot near his elbow and debating what he could possibly say to the nerd once they met up again.

* * *

Sarge was quick to show Simmons exactly where everything in the center was located, and Simmons recognized that not a whole lot had changed beyond some needed upgrades here and there from when he'd visited as a teenager. "And this will be your classroom!" Sarge told him proudly when they entered a space with about six decently updated computers and empty spots set aside for laptops.

Simmons nodded as he surveyed the sight, light filtering in through the one window in the back, "So my job will be to help with any computer problems that might crop up and to teach people who aren't computer-savvy how to use their devices?"

"Yep!" Sarge nodded his gray-haired head enthusiastically, "We've been getting quite a few requests for technology lessons around here, so it seemed like the right time to start!" He raised an eyebrow as if about to place a wager, "Think you can handle it?"

"I'll do my best, sir!" Simmons found himself instinctually _saluting_ for some reason and profusely blushed in embarrassment at the display.

Sarge didn't seem to mind, however. In fact, he seemed pleased with the redhead's energetic display, "Here's to hoping you can keep that enthusiasm going when the classes are officially posted." He hummed joyously.

"I—I'll try." Simmons was quick to tell him.

Sarge nodded briefly before walking out of the room with Simmons hot on his heels. The maroon-wearing man was ecstatic that so far his first day seemed to be going fairly well, so lost in his thoughts that he barely avoided bumping into the older man when Sarge abruptly stopped moving. "Grif!" He heard Sarge call out disapprovingly, and Simmons' heart started to speed up at the familiar name, "Don't just stop in the middle of the hallway like that. You nearly caused a crash!"

From where he was standing behind Sarge, Simmons could make out that it was indeed an older Dexter Grif in the hallway, along with two teens directly behind the chubbier man who had also apparently been forced to stop short when Grif had. "Sir?" One of them, a bespectacled youth with a yellow t-shirt and tan shorts on, cautiously asked.

But Grif didn't acknowledge the teens or Sarge as his dark eyes remained fixed on Simmons alone, effectively pinning the redhead in place. Simmons froze too, unsure of what to say or do. Finally, he swallowed nervously and shakily waved his hand, his green eyes noticing Grif's fixation on the metal plating parts of his arm, suddenly he wanted to kick himself for wearing short sleeves, "H—hey, Grif." Simmons managed to choke out nervously.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Sorry that this chapter was so short. I've been pretty busy this week and I thought that Grif and Simmons meeting face to face again following the timeskip would be a nice stopping point for this update! :)

Next up will be the return of a whole lot of familiar faces, as well as introductions to some new ones as Simmons celebrates his first day on the job! :D Of course, there will still be some good ol' awkward tension between him and Grif too. XD

Thank you so much for reading! :D


	7. Chapter Seven: Taco Night

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Seven: Taco Night

"Here you go, Simmons." Carolina reached up and over Kai's head to hand Richard "Dick" Simmons his plate of tacos, "This one's on me."

The redhead blanched at the unexpected act of generosity, "Thanks, but you really don't need to!"

"Nonsense. Today was your first day, right?" The other redhead smirked, "Consider it a present from all of us."

For just a moment, Simmons caught just how tired Carolina looked, inwardly touched that with whatever was going on in her personal life, the older woman was still trying to do something for a friend she hadn't seen in a long time. In response to the smile still pulling at her features, he hastily wiped at his watery eyes to give a genuine one back, "Thanks."

"I still can't believe Sarge managed to stay quiet about when you were starting." Kaikaina Grif pouted over her drink, absentmindedly playing with its straw, "Old people sure are devious."

"He, um, wanted it to be a surprise." Simmons tried stating in the older man's defense. From the position of his seat in the crowded restaurant, he caught the man in question saying something over his shoulder to Grif. From the looks on their faces, it appeared as if they were about to start up a pretty serious conversation. That, or Grif had eaten some bad food.

"Dex and Kimball didn't say anything either." Kai stated sullenly, "How lame!"

"B—but it was a good surprise, right?" Simmons asked in hopes of lightening the young woman's mood.

She nodded, impressively _both_ glaring and grinning all at once, "It wasn't as fun as some I've had, but it was pretty high up there. I missed you, you gray nerd!"

Simmons could easily picture her unexpected scream of delight before Kai had run up to hug him, distantly recalling Grif's alarmed _"Watch the arm, Kai!"_ as her surprised action broke up the tension that had lingered in the air in that Warthog Community Center hallway. It seemed par the course following that for everyone to go out for a _"taco night"_ at the Mexican restaurant across the street.

"I'm glad." Simmons answered truthfully, unable to stop himself from looking over towards Grif again, "I…I wasn't sure how it would go over with everyone and—" he cut himself off, shaking his head futilely.

Kai caught on to the direction of his gaze then and why he had suddenly stopped talking, as she reached over to squeeze his hand reassuringly, "Just try and give Dex some time, okay?" She told him, "He's still really upset about what happened and doesn't know what to do. Because he's kind of an asshole, you know?"

Simmons bit down on saying anything about how he _had_ been giving the chubbier man time already, nodding his head in Kai's direction instead to reassure her.

"So, what's this I hear about major surprises?" A familiar voice spoke up then, "Hopefully they're the X-Rated kind!"

Kai grinned, winking over in Lavernius Tucker's direction, "Don't you know it!" She told him, holding up her hand to get a high five in return.

Simmons had barely choked out " _Wait, what_?" in response when Tucker turned to him, "What's up?" the teal-wearing man asked casually, taking the seat next to Kai and pulling the chair a few inches closer to her so that their knees nearly touched.

"Guess who started working at the center today and didn't say anything to me!" Kai quickly cut in, fake indignation plastered across her tan face.

"Oh, yeah, we were kind of running a betting pool to see who'd cave first and tell you." Tucker mused out loud, "Damn. I guess nobody won then."

"Actually, I did." Washington stated rather smugly from where he was now standing by the table, "I guessed they could keep it until the day of."

"Of _course_ Mister High and Mighty Former Freelancer would be good at betting too." Tucker replied, rolling his dark-colored eyes.

"Former?" Simmons couldn't help but query.

Carolina and Washington exchanged a look then as Washington coughed awkwardly and took a seat at the table, "The Freelancer program actually ended quite a while ago."

"More like crashed and burned." Tucker scoffed, motioning for a waiter to come over and take his order.

Kai elbowed him, and from the serious looks suddenly on everyone's faces, this was a heavy and uncomfortable topic for them. Simmons instantly regretted asking about it, given that it totally killed the vibe. Figures.

Carolina spoke up next, "I'm just a police officer now, and Wash…" her lips curved up faintly in the slightest of smiles, "Believe it or not, he actually _works_ for Tucker in his driving business."

"Oh man, don't remind me!" Tucker groaned overdramatically as he put his head in his hands, "It _still_ creeps me out."

"I can't imagine why, _boss_." Washington joked, grinning now.

"Quit it!"

Though they were joking alongside the rest of them, there were looks of pain momentarily still flashing across Washington and Carolina's features. Simmons wondered just what had happened to the project they'd both been so invested in, but wasn't sure if he should pry further. Instead, his brain leapt to the _next_ most horrible thing it could think of as he blurted out in Carolina's direction, "I'm…I'm really sorry about Church."

There was a sudden, all-encompassing silence at the table as his words sunk in, though before he could kick himself for ruining everything yet again, Carolina broke it by saying, "Thank you, though your being at the funeral was more than enough already."

"I still can't believe Church and Sheila are gone." Tucker murmured, narrowing his eyes down at the table, "Tex too."

…It had been a nightmarish tragedy of a car accident, that was for sure. Silently, Washington gripped Carolina's shoulder. She clasped onto his hand resting there briefly, but the moment of comfort was quick to pass.

"S—sorry." Simmons muttered apologetically. He really hated his brain sometimes.

"It's all right." Carolina assured him, "It happened some time ago."

"But!" He felt like pressing, but knew better than to do so, opting to trail off instead.

Laughter erupted from the table across from their group, and a tan-skinned girl with freckles dotting her face who was sitting there suddenly jumped up and waved hello at their assembled party. At the other table was an assortment of four of the teen workers at the community center, the girl in their midst who had just waved walking over to their table with purpose, "Hi, Mr. Simmons?" She greeted with an audible slur due to the retainers she was wearing, "My name is Katie Jensen, and I'll be helping you with your work!"

He smiled back, glad for the more joyful reprieve, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Man though, you sure did miss one helluva awkward time when Mr. Grif and Mr. Simmons met up, Katie!" A young man wearing an aqua shirt and tan shorts who had shown up along with Kai mere seconds after Simmons' brain fart in the hallway grinned as he sidled into place next to Jensen, "It was almost painful to watch!"

The glee in Charles Palomo's voice made it apparent that it really had been anything but.

"Charlie." Jensen gently admonished, shooting Simmons an apologetic look.

"It's okay." Simmons grinned self-deprecatingly, "I'm not too great with, um, talking in general."

"I'll say." Another of the teens with hair dyed a rainbow of colors and wearing an orange shirt spoke up then. He was one of the workers who had been helping Grif earlier with his duties, "That _was_ pretty painful."

"Bitters!" His friend in yellow interjected. Simmons thought his last name was Matthews, but couldn't recall his first.

Bitters grabbed some nachos from the table and ate them, shrugging, "Just telling it like I saw."

"I'm sure things will get better, sir." Matthews tried reassuring instead.

Simmons glanced over at Grif, not feeling quite as confident himself though he smiled appreciatively at the gesture all the same.

"Oh! We were just about to head out." Jensen explained, turning to the black-haired woman in yellow at the table, "I thought Charlie should tell you beforehand, Kai."

Kai waved it off as if the announcement wasn't that big a deal, "Sure, I'll see you back at my place later."

"Sweet!" Palomo grinned and turned to the other three, "Let's go, guys!"

"I want to say goodbye to Mr. Grif first." Matthews tried, though Bitters was already dragging him out of the restaurant anyways.

Tucker raised an eyebrow at the exchange, "He's still sleeping on your couch?" He asked Kai.

She shrugged, "It's not like he has anywhere else to go." She stated matter-of-factly, her dark eyes narrowing, "Jensen's folks don't exactly approve of them being friends because they're assholes, and the other three's situations aren't much better."

Tucker sighed, "I get it." He said quietly, shoulders slumping, "I just wish there was something I could do to help too."

"Nah, you've got Junior to worry about." Kai told him succinctly, in a voice that broached no room for argument.

"Junior?" Simmons asked, raising an eyebrow at the unfamiliar name as suddenly everyone else at the table besides Tucker groaned in exasperation.

"Yeah, he's my kid!" Tucker beamed happily, "Wanna see some pics of him?"

* * *

Sarge ushered Dexter Grif over to a small side-table in order to have a _"little chat"_ that Grif was sure he already knew the topic of. His eyes instinctively went to Simmons again for who knew what time since they had all settled in the restaurant. He was rather dreading whatever Sarge was about to say, not that he loved most of the older man's _"pep talks"_ since they usually took a left turn into crazy lane real quick.

"Look." Sarge stated without anything in the way of a preamble because he believed in approaching most things as directly as possible, "All I'm sayin' is that you've gotta try and be civil when you fellas are in the same room, all right?"

Grif rolled his eyes, "Technically, in this scenario, I was the one being the asshole, Sarge." He reminded him bluntly.

After all, simply with one look at Simmons he'd frozen like a deer in the headlights. Who knew how much more awkward and tense things could have become if Kai and Palomo hadn't appeared just like they had? The older man in red harrumphed, "I know. I'm not blind, numb-nuts." He informed Grif tersely before his tone became uncharacteristically soft, "But avoidin' the matter ain't going to solve anything, especially with you two now working together."

"This seems like weirdly parental advice for someone who used to try and motivate me with a shotgun." Grif mused, hoping desperately to change the subject.

Sarge grimaced as if he'd just tasted something particularly sour, "I know. It weirds me the fuck out too."

"What does?" There was genuine curiosity in Vanessa Kimball's voice as she approached the two men, having arrived at the taco joint a little later than Washington and Tucker had.

Sarge sighed, "Never mind." He stated quickly, clearly not keen on letting it be known that he was trying to discuss an emotionally heavy topic, before wandering off to find a waiter to place his order.

Which just left Grif under Kimball's scrutinizing stare. The dark-skinned woman raised an eyebrow in the chubby man's direction as she plopped down in the chair across from him that Sarge had vacated, "Why are you over here by yourself instead of mingling?"

Leave it to his sort-of foster sister to be so direct. Grif shifted slightly in his seat, "Well, first Sarge wanted to have _the talk_ ," he muttered sarcastically, complete with air quotes, "And then you know me with food." He shrugged, "I figured having others around would just be a hindrance."

"Uh-huh." She shot him a knowing look, turning her head slightly to look over her shoulder at a certain male redhead currently engaged in small talk with a beaming Tucker, "And this has nothing to do with you still avoiding Simmons?"

"Kimball…" Grif began, realizing he couldn't think of anything to add.

"The _same_ Simmons you've been glancing over at every two seconds since I got here?" Kimball looked amused as she turned back around to face Grif directly, "You should just go and talk to him."

Grif shook his head adamantly, "I can't." Too much time had passed already. There was no way that Simmons would forgive him now, especially since he hadn't yet forgiven himself. That was even one of the main reasons he still insisted on helping Sarge and Kimball with the community center. He'd barely been able to look Simmons in the eye after…

"Only because you're being ridiculously stubborn over this." The dark-skinned woman fixed him with a level, knowing stare before speaking gentler, "You know he wouldn't have sent you all those messages still if he hadn't wanted to stay in touch."

The same messages that Grif had reread over and over again but hadn't yet figured out how to respond to. He frowned, "It was hard enough learning to talk to you again after…" he trailed off, not wanting to bring up any unpleasant memories for her.

Subconsciously, one of Kimball's hands reached down to touch both of her knees. Neither of them brought that action up in their conversation. "But we _did_ manage to get through it, and now here I am with an aggravatingly frustrating little brother to deal with." Kimball told him rather warmly before glancing over her shoulder to see that Grif's gaze had once again drifted to the other table, "I know you still worry about him."

He sighed, "Maybe later." The heavyset man stated in as non-comital a tone as he could muster.

"Grif…" Kimball started.

"We're going to _have_ to interact sometime, right?" The tan-skinned man cut her off with a dismissive wave of his hand, "It can wait 'til then."

And before either she or the now approaching Kai could stop him, Grif got up from his seat and promptly headed towards the exit, telling himself he'd rather just have pizza tonight instead. He didn't leave, however, without first risking another glance over at Simmons. Brown eyes surprisingly met green eyes and, with his breath suddenly caught in his throat, it took all of Grif's willpower to finally tear himself away.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Wowza, Grif, you're being phenomenally stubborn here, but that will change in the next chapter when Grif and Simmons _finally_ end up talking to one another! :D And there will be some more new and familiar faces showing up in the next part as well.

Also, I'm _so_ sorry for what happened to Church, Tex, and Sheila in this fic, though there is definitely plot reasons for it that I'll be going into later once things really get underway in the timeskip portion of the story.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! :D


	8. Chapter Eight: New Beginnings

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Eight: New Beginnings

The following day, when Richard "Dick" Simmons entered his _"classroom"_ at the Warthog Community Center, he was rather surprised to find that there were already four people there along with Jensen and a black-haired employee dressed in blue and tan that he didn't recognize. And here he thought that he'd arrived early!

"Good morning, sir!" Jensen exclaimed happily from where she was sitting behind a computer screen.

"Hello." Simmons rather nervously got out, looking at the people sitting in the class and blinking his eyes in surprise when he started recognizing just who they were, "Caboose?!"

"Simon!" Caboose beamed over at him and waved, "I just wanted to say hello." The blond lowered his voice to a conspiratorial stage whisper as he motioned down to the handheld device he was carrying, "Freckles does all my computer work for me."

"HELLO." Caboose's phone beeped as Simmons examined the machine carefully. He'd heard that Caboose's family had invented a pretty competent Artificial Intelligence that was still in its testing phase, but to be able to see it in person…

"And Lopez wanted to say hi too!" Caboose carried on.

"Simplemente no tenemos trabajo en este momento, pero supongo que es educado saludar ya que todos mis compañeros de habitación siguen diciendo que debería." _{"We just don't have any work right now, but I suppose it's polite to say hello since all of my roommates keep saying I should."}_ Lopez muttered something unintelligible while offering a half-hearted wave.

"You two are living with Washington, right?" Simmons asked as he waved back at Lopez. Last he'd heard, the unlikely friends had formed a _"finders"_ business that Sarge was allowing to operate at the community center.

"Sí." _{"Yes."}_ Lopez seemed to confirm that, "Junto con ese camarógrafo idiota." _{"Along with that idiot cameraman."}_

"It's always a fun time at our place!" Caboose chimed in rather excitedly, "You should visit sometime. Maybe move in too."

"Por favor, no, apenas hay espacio como es." _{"Please no, there is barely enough room as it is."}_

Simmons smiled, "Thanks for the offer, but I have my own place already." He was quick to add in before Caboose could become crestfallen, "But I'll definitely visit sometime soon."

"Okay!" Caboose replied gleefully, his smile somehow managing to brighten even more.

"Hiya, Simmons!" One of the other people in the room apparently couldn't contain themselves anymore and began bouncing on the balls of their feet, "It's been way too long!"

"Donut!" Simmons' smile widened upon recognizing his friend from boarding school, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? I help organize events for the community center." Donut was quick to explain, a smile a mile wide on his face, "I just thought I'd stop by and say hello." He reached out and tapped Simmons' arm gently, "You should have dropped by more."

Simmons glanced down sheepishly, "I—I know." He muttered, "But I was afraid of things being awkward and…!"

"None of that now!" The dirty blond in pink happily took over the reins of the conversation when Simmons trailed off, "Why, if anyone here gives you a hard time, send them to me for a real pounding!"

Simmons felt his face heat up at Donut's particular phrasing, but he smiled anyways, "Thanks." There was movement off to Donut's side. Simmons started and instinctively took a step back at the intimidating man standing there. The x-shaped scar on his face was rather familiar though, and after a second Simmons gasped in recognition, "You're…!"

"Oh, you know Locus?" Donut asked, raising an eyebrow as he grinned, "Why am I not surprised? He's only the best florist in all of Blood Gulch!"

"Donut…" Locus began, and weirdly enough Simmons could almost swear he was blushing.

"I have him make arrangements for all sorts of things!" Donut carried on with explaining, "Why, just today we're going to go over what can be done for a dance fundraiser that's coming up."

"I…that's great." Simmons smiled shakily before bowing his head in Locus' direction, "It's nice to see you again."

Locus seemed caught off-guard by the genuineness in Simmons' voice, glancing down at the redhead's cybernetic arm briefly before responding, "You as well."

"And this is Andersmith!" Jensen took the lull in conversation just then to introduce her companion, "He's an intern here."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir!" Andersmith, who appeared to be just a few years older than the teenaged Jensen, actually saluted.

"He wanted to see how the first day of the computer lab would go." Jensen further explained.

"I see." Simmons took the time to look around at all of them carefully then, "So no one here has an actual tech question I can help with?"

Everyone shook their heads at his query, and the redhead couldn't help but sigh. This was going to be a long, and potentially pointless, gig.

* * *

"So, Simmons is employed here now." Locus noted to Dexter Grif as the orange-wearing man busily cleaned crayon off the wall from the latest toddler _"art project."_

Grif raised a dark eyebrow in suspicion, "What's your point?"

"Nothing." Locus murmured, "He looks better than I thought he might. Are the cybernetics from Doctor Grey?"

"Yeah, she helped patch him up along with Kimball. Because they all became buddy-buddy over rehab." Grif struggled with a particular spot of scribbled mess, hoping Locus would take the hint and leave.

"You should talk with him." Locus had not, evidently.

Grif frowned, "I kind of have to. Eventually. You know, because of work." He raised another eyebrow up at the towering Locus before he could try and protest, "Do you talk to _Donut_ outside of work?"

"That is neither here nor there." Locus insisted rather lamely.

"Uh-huh." Grif was totally not convinced, "So you just give everyone giant discounts like that?"

Locus stiffened, looking awkwardly away, "When it is for the community center."

"Dude, I've been to Donut's house. Unfortunately." Grif informed him in a rather matter-of-fact tone of voice, "You can have an allergic reaction simply walking in the place."

"He is merely fond of home décor." Locus muttered weakly.

"He's fond of _something_ , all right." Grif smirked.

Locus sighed, "I'm not having this discussion with you." Instead, he fixed Grif with a serious stare, "Avoiding Simmons will not work."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Grif asked tiredly, "Avoiding shit's my specialty."

"Grif."

"I'm telling you, the ants are back!" Matthews exclaimed as he and Bitters walked into the room with a bucket of soapy water and some more rags.

"And I really don't care as long as they aren't on the food." Bitters' response was his usual apathetic one, peppered with his maverick sense of anti-authority.

"It's only a matter of time!"

The two were so engrossed in their conversation and smiling at one another that they didn't realize they'd walked into the classroom holding hands until they saw Locus and Grif staring at them. The two teens immediately dropped their hands, looking away from one another rather sheepishly and Grif sighed, wondering just how long _that_ had been going on.

"Help me get this junk off the wall and I'll think about it." The heavyset man said, switching his attention back to Locus and their previous conversation instead to spare his subordinates some embarrassment at being caught.

Locus wordlessly went to grab a rag to help, and Grif couldn't help but groan because he totally hadn't expected that would work. Damn it.

* * *

Grif's shoulders ached by the time he was done with cleaning the wall, and he headed to the café in the community center to get some much needed caffeine. The whole set-up in the mess hall had been Kai's idea, and she'd even helped Donut raise the money for the small area. Grif couldn't have been prouder of his little sister for what she'd accomplished. Plus, it gave him a much needed lifeline. Coffee and snacks. The perfect combination.

"Afternoon, sir!" Palomo greeted him cheerfully, "The usual?"

Grif nodded and turned to the tiny seating area to look around and see who was there. Jensen would most likely be stopping by later to help Palomo close up, and Tucker usually always came by to grab a cup of coffee before heading home, with Washington buying a whole assortment of snacks for his roommates and Carolina along the way. He saw Kimball seated at one of the tables with Doctor Grey, who had apparently stopped by for a chat on her break from the clinic where she worked. The two waved him over after he picked up his coffee.

"Been here long?" Grif asked them, noting that the table they sat at was cozily set for two.

Grey shook her dark head of hair, "Doc just convinced me that he could see the last patient of the day by himself, so I figured I'd just stop by and see how things were going."

Kimball frowned, pointedly raising both her legs into the air for a moment, "And I keep telling you that I'm doing fine, Emily." She stated in a voice that broached no room for argument, "You worry too much."

"Never enough, Vanessa." The dark-skinned doctor informed her emphatically, "If your cybernetics break down, I have to be ready at a moment's notice."

"I doubt they'd do so easily, given who made them." Kimball noted wryly.

"You flatter me!" Grey grinned, "Plus, the indestructible titanium alloy doesn't hurt either."

"The what?" Grif blinked at this particular detail, "How'd you get that?"

"A girl's got to have some secrets." Grey smiled mysteriously and leaned back in her chair.

Kimball mouthed _"grant money"_ over to Grif and Grey swiped at her arm playfully in retaliation, "You two should just get a room already." Grif remarked, causing both women to blush.

"Speaking of cybernetics though," Grey began, tapping a finger thoughtfully on the surface of the table, "Today was Simmons' first really official day here, correct?" She asked contemplatively, "I should stop by and see how he's doing."

"No need for you to cancel your plans so soon." Grif muttered, "I can do it."

"We had plans?" Grey looked over at Kimball with a conspiratorial glimmer in her brown eyes.

Kimball, meanwhile, was staring at Grif and looking concerned, "You sure?"

"Everyone keeps saying I should just go and rip the bandage off, right?" Grif shrugged, "I guess now's as good a time as any."

"You know, that saying has always bothered me." Grey spoke up rather quickly, "You really shouldn't be ripping bandages off without proper cautions. Think of all the blood and pathogens!"

As Grey started her rambling on proper bandage removal protocol, Grif moved back over to the café and silently ordered another coffee to go.

* * *

Considering that they'd only had one very confused elderly patron seeking tech help today, Simmons sent Jensen and Andersmith off to perform some of their other duties at the Warthog Community Center. When Sarge stopped by earlier, he seemed confident that the actual planned lessons Simmons had shown him would draw in larger numbers, as would word of mouth. The redhead wasn't so sure, but he wasn't about to argue with his new boss. Simmons was just about to call it a day himself when movement by the doorway caused him to turn in that direction. He was surprised to see one Dexter Grif standing there, holding two cups of coffee.

"Hey." Grif fidgeted awkwardly now that he'd been spotted and Simmons couldn't help but wonder how long he'd been standing there just staring into the room, "I figured you could use some caffeine after your first real day here."

"Thanks." Simmons blinked away his shock and walked the few steps over to where Grif stood, taking the proffered beverage gratefully. He was never one to turn down caffeine.

"So," Grif nodded in turn, his brown eyes glancing over at Simmons' modified arm as he brought his own cup of coffee to his lips, "How's the arm doing?" Simmons nearly spit out the coffee he'd just swallowed, completely caught off-guard by that direct of a question coming from the other man. Grif was quick to elaborate on why he'd even asked in the first place, "Your…the cybernetics are new, right?" He asked tentatively, no doubt already knowing the answer, "Grey wanted to know how they're holding up."

"Oh! Ah, they're, uh, doing great." Simmons fidgeted some as they stood there, both men awkwardly drinking their coffee and looking in every other direction but at one another.

"Was today busy?" Grif suddenly asked when the uncomfortable silence dragged on longer than either wanted it to.

Simmons was quick to shake his head, "Was it…" He paused, his brain taking forever to get the words he wanted to say out, "Busy for you?"

He could've kicked himself. Really. Stupid awkward nerd.

"No more than usual." Was Grif's immediate reply. Simmons frowned, tempted to remind Grif that he didn't know what he meant by that but unsure how to broach that particular topic without dragging up even heavier things. Grif seemed to pick up on his hesitation there, because he frowned and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry. Bad word choice."

"It's all right." Simmons was quick to respond, even if his mind was screaming it was anything but.

They remained standing there, staring at one another then for who knew how long until Grif sighed, "Shit. This is fucking awkward, isn't it?"

"Tell me about it." Relief washed over Simmons at finding out he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Grif let out another long-winded sigh, "Look, Simmons…"

"You…you don't have to say anything, Grif!" Simmons suddenly blurted out over him, "It's cool. Really." Grif shot him a dubious look then, frowning. The redhead wilted instantly, "I—I mean, it isn't. But…" Simmons trailed off helplessly.

"We both suck at this, huh?" Grif smirked in a rather self-deprecating way.

Simmons could only mutely nod in response. Ideally, it would be great if they could just somehow go back and erase all that had happened, but… But that wasn't exactly a realistic option, unfortunately. But maybe, just _maybe_ , they could settle on doing the next best thing.

"I'm glad Sarge hired me." Simmons stated rather quietly, "Seeing everyone again has been great."

"Yeah." Now it was Grif's turn to look rather sheepish.

Simmons took in a deep breath, working up the courage to suggest, "Why don't we just…?" His phone beeped just then, and he trailed off to glance down at it. _"How's the first official day of work going?"_ The text message was from Temple. Simmons' lips curved up slightly in a smile at his friend's concern.

"Friend of yours?" Grif couldn't help asking as Simmons began shooting off a quick reply.

"Yeah, let me just…"

"Excuse me?" A new voice suddenly cut in.

Simmons lowered his phone at the young-sounding voice, both him and Grif glancing over at the brown-haired girl shuffling her sneakered feet behind them in the hallway outside the classroom's entrance. She was wearing a nametag on her shirt that read _"Huggins"_ in plain cursive.

"I think I might be lost." She told them without preamble, as if that explained everything.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Yes, they finally talked! :D Here's to hoping they'll actually get the chance to talk more and more now that they've gotten over that first hurdle.

I'll be taking a small break from this story in order to outline future chapters and to focus attention on some of my neglected other WIPs, but I hope that what I have planned for future updates will make up for the wait in-between! I have plans, my friends, I have plans. XD

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter! :)


	9. Chapter Nine: Pizza Can Wait

Legal Disclaimer: I do not own _Red vs. Blue_ or any of the show's characters. They are the rightful properties of Rooster Teeth.

Chapter Nine: Pizza Can Wait

With Huggins in tow, they'd only gone about three steps towards Sarge's office when a voice exclaimed exasperatedly behind them, "Huggins! There you are!"

The girl's face turned into a grimace that defied her youthful features, "Damn. He found me!" Huggins muttered under her breath, as if she'd been caught stealing cookies from a jar by a parent.

"What?" Richard "Dick" Simmons began, startled as a brown-haired young man who vaguely looked like he could be related to Huggins came racing towards them, the newcomer even wearing a grimace to match his-could-be-a-relative's own.

"What have I told you about that kind of language?" The currently unnamed man asked Huggins, clearly embarrassed by her behavior.

Huggins actually seemed to ponder his question for a moment, "Don't say it unless there's a perfectly good reason?"

"No," the stranger glowered, "I'm pretty sure it was that you're never to use it."

"You're not the boss of me!" Huggins declared, taking a step behind both Grif and Simmons as if they could shield her from the man's sight.

"Uh," the newcomer sighed in exasperation at the girl's antics as he crossed his arms over his chest, "When Mom and Dad are away at work, I pretty much _am_ the boss!"

"You've done a great job." Huggins practically sneered, "We've only been here ten minutes and I got lost, asshole!"

"Hey! If you didn't wander off so much!" The man, clearly Huggins' sibling, looked about ready to drop to the floor.

"Um, excuse me?" Simmons heard himself saying after the two simply remained glaring at one another without any indication of clarifying for those not related to them, "Can someone please explain what is going on here?"

"Yeah. It's not like I really care," Grif began, though he took another step in front of Huggins all the same, "But if there's some issue here..."

"No issue." The young man, who appeared to be only a little bit older than Andersmith with a voice that seemed surprisingly deep, continued glaring at the little girl, "Save that my little sister is being a bit of a brat. Like usual."

Huggins stuck her tongue out at her brother and gave him the finger, moving to put Simmons between them, like he was a human shield, "Only because you keep acting like you know it all, Muggins!"

"I know more than you!" Muggins blurted out oh-so-helpfully.

Grif and Simmons exchanged a look, the orange-wearing man shrugging indifferently at Simmons' questioning raised eyebrow.

"Prove it!" The girl exclaimed as she stomped her foot on the floor gleefully, "But I bet you can't."

"Huggins!" Muggins yelled, the older sibling taking a step forward as Simmons subtly moved to keep himself between the two siblings just in case something else was going on than just the familial spat it appeared to be.

"So, ah," Simmons tried keeping the subject going to avoid any sibling throttling incidents and to hopefully get more information, "You and Huggins are siblings then?"

"I think the big giveaway is really that their parents named them Huggins and Muggins." Grif supplied, looking more amused than anything else with each passing second, "Did they hate you guys or something?"

"Oh, like you should talk about names." Simmons was quick to point out, annoyed for the siblings.

"Neither should you. _Dick._ " Grif responded back with just as quickly.

"I...!" Simmons trailed off as he felt his face heat up while the mood between Muggins and Huggins seemed to dissipate slightly at the sudden exchange.

"That's right." Muggins astutely ignored Grif's comment on his name with an indignant huff, answering Simmons' earlier question instead, "Huggins here is my troublesome little sister."

"And Muggins is my extremely _older_ brother." Huggins declared from behind Simmons, shooting him a challenging look as if daring her sibling to debate her.

"I'm only twenty-five!" Muggins whimpered, "I can't help it if my voice sounds like this!"

"Twenty-five?!" Grif raised an eyebrow and glanced between the two siblings, "Someone was probably an accident then."

"She was!"

"He was!"

…Came out at the exact same time from the siblings. Simmons shot Grif a pointed look, but all the chubby man did was smirk in return. Clearly, he was amused that he got the pair started up again. _Jackass_.

"At any rate," Muggins sniffed indifferently, "Mom and Dad work overseas so I get stuck babysitting when they're gone."

"I resent you calling it that!" Huggins yelled, "I'm not a baby!"

"Since I have to go to work," Muggins said as he deftly ignored Huggins (though it seemed to Simmons that doing so took a lot of effort on his part), "I was hoping my friend who is in charge here could help keep an eye on her during the day."

"Well, it figures you'd somehow be friends with Sarge." Grif muttered just low enough that only Simmons heard him, eyes narrowing.

"But she ran off before we could meet him," Muggins concluded before glaring at his sister, "Because she's a brat."

"I was bored and wanted to see everything!" Huggins pouted, "You never let me have any fun!"

"There will be time to explore afterwards!" Muggins replied, shaking his head, "I hate how last minute our parents' trips are."

"Yeah. It's like they get sucked into a black hole or something." Huggins agreed, kicking her feet on the ground. For a moment, it seemed as if some sort of solidarity hit the pair because Huggins sighed and said, "Fine. We can go meet your even _older_ friend."

"If you hadn't run off at first we'd already be done!" Muggins declared as the two walked past Grif and Simmons without even a sideways glance, lost in their squabbling sibling dynamic.

"Oh, shove it!" Huggins was quick to respond down the hallway as they turned a corner, disappearing from view.

* * *

Grif and Simmons stood awkwardly, trying to process what just happened with Huggins and Muggins. "Well. That happened." Grif muttered under his breath, clearly not impressed. Not that it seemed like the heavyset man was often impressed.

"Yeah," Simmons said as he frowned in contemplation, "Should we have gone with them? We were going to take her to Sarge's office ourselves."

"Since big bro's going to be doing that now, what's the point?" Grif asked, clearly not wanting to take the effort to follow the pair down the hall.

"I guess," Simmons glanced at the direction the two had gone in, "That means Huggins will be hanging out around here for a while, huh?"

"Seems that way." Grif replied, plucking at an orange thread on his shirt disinterestedly.

"She seemed spirited, didn't she?" Simmons started awkwardly, "Almost reminds me of Kai."

"Yeah, I almost feel some sympathy for that poor Muggins dude." Grif grinned, "Little sisters can be tough. Well, that, and his parents named him Muggins."

From the proud look in his eyes and the slight curving of his lips, Simmons knew that Grif really wasn't complaining about Kai. He was glad to see that the Grif siblings' relationship was still as strong as ever, even after all these years. He hoped maybe things were truly better for the pair now that they'd been at Sarge's for a while, though he couldn't bring himself to just up and ask if that was truly the case directly. A part of the redhead's brain was screaming that it was _"too soon"_ and that he shouldn't rock the tentative boat with Grif just yet.

Simmons must have been musing these things for longer than he realized because he started when he noticed Grif was staring at him in a rather scrutinizing manner, "Wha-what is it?" He asked, his face starting to heat up to match his maroon shirt.

"Nothing." Grif shook his head, and then a thought seemed to strike him as he rubbed the back of his head and fixed his gaze to a floor tile, "Listen, Simmons. Do you want to...I don't know? Go out and catch up now or something?"

"I..." Simmons drew a blank as to how to respond as he blinked, shocked that Grif may have been thinking the same thing he'd been earlier.

"Nothing really formal or anything." Grif was quick to say, "But it's been a while so I figured maybe it was overdue."

Simmons so desperately wanted to say _"yes"_ right then and there, probably more eagerly than he should. There was so much that had happened in their past, and even if they didn't get to talking about it all, if they just started then it was a start. One he desperately wanted.

"I..." The redhead trailed off again, pissed at himself for not figuring out how to respond in a manner that didn't make him look like the socially awkward, desperate geek he was.

"Simmons?"

Simmons paused at the familiar voice that spoke up just then. Both he and Grif turned in unison to see a thin, black-haired man only a bit shorter than Simmons himself standing there in the community center's fluorescent-lighted hallway. Mark Temple grinned and waved, "I _thought_ that was you!" He exclaimed with a tone that indicated he had stumbled upon a great find.

"Temple." Simmons blinked in surprise at his friend's presence, turning his attention so fully on to him just then that he barely noticed the way Grif awkwardly tensed up, "I thought you had work!"

"I got off a little early, so I figured I'd see how your first day went." Temple informed Simmons, looking around the community center building as he did so. His blue eyes briefly landed on a self-defense class poster before he spoke up again, "You know, I don't think I've ever even been in a community center before."

"There isn't too much to it," Grif stated, oddly stiff "If you're wondering."

Simmons sent the orange-wearing man a questioning glance as Temple's focus fell on Grif. For a brief moment, he had a sharp intake of breath and his fists clenched, but he eased into a smile once more, "Is that so?" Temple inquired, although it was said in an indifferent tone, like he didn't care much for the chubbier man's opinion.

"Oh! Temple, this is Grif." Simmons said quickly, figuring the awkward tension was as good a time as any to introduce his two friends to one another, "Grif, this is Temple. He used to be hall mates with me at school."

"Your name sounds familiar." Temple contemplated, frowning in thought, "There was a Grif who wrote you all the time back then. Wasn't there, Simmons?"

"That would be my sister, Kai." Grif informed the newcomer, "Simmons and I just got reacquainted."

"I see." Temple looked at the two speculatively for a moment before his smile widened and he hooked his arm around Simmons' elbow, "It seems like your first day has been pretty eventful!"

"It has!" Simmons replied, quick to jump on this less awkward turn of the conversation, "Do you want me to show you around?"

"That would be ideal," Temple said, "Since I'm here and all."

Simmons turned to Grif then apologetically, hating that he had to cancel their potential plans but not wanting to be rude either, "Sorry, Grif. Rain check, maybe?"

"Sure." Grif nodded tersely, "I'll be here."

Simmons smiled at him thankfully before he turned to Temple once again. Since his friend had come all this way, he knew it was only fair that he should give him the full tour. Temple's eyes remained fixed pointedly on Grif for a few more moments before he smiled again towards the redhead and squeezed Simmons' arm, "Let's start with those self-defense classes, if you don't mind?" He asked, the maroon-wearing man guiding him towards that section of the community center.

* * *

After Simmons and his friend took their leave, Dexter Grif stood in the hallway feeling oddly out of sorts. He wasn't quite sure why, but something about that Temple guy left him on edge. But that was maybe due to how he'd ruined his chance to get to talk to Simmons in a more private setting.

"Whoa. Talk about a crash and burn."

Grif started at the sound of Huggins' voice coming from behind him then and he turned around to glare at her, "What?" He asked, already agitated.

"You heard me." She shot him a defiant look, "That guy totally ruined your date plans."

"It wasn't...!" He sighed, "Never mind. Mind your own business, squirt." There wasn't any point in trying to explain what was going on with Simmons to a little kid anyways. It wouldn't have been a date. Not really. But Grif had wanted the chance to talk to the redhead some more.

"You were totally thrown under the bus too. Dude, it sucks to be you!"

Grif clenched his fists at his sides, trying to tell himself that he and Simmons had just started talking again and there was still plenty of time for conversation amongst them, "Why are you here again?" He asked Huggins instead, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you were going to meet Sarge."

"Yeah, but I felt like I should thank you guys for trying to help me out first." Huggins muttered, kicking the floor again, "We're probably going to be seeing each other around here, so it is good to start on the right foot, you know?"

"Thanks, I think." Grif said, marveling at how practical-minded the kid seemed to be.

Huggins nodded, "You should totally try hanging out with your BFF more! It always sucks when you lose touch." She exclaimed. There was a dark look in her eyes then, and Grif could almost picture her thinking of her parents or the friends she probably couldn't hang out with as much when they were working. He felt a bit sympathetic, and he nodded his head in response to her comment. "Good." She said, seeming satisfied with his nonverbal response.

 _"Huggins!"_ Muggins' voice called out yet again, clearly exasperated.

"Gotta go!" Huggins exclaimed as she waved in Grif's direction, "Say thanks to the nerd for me too, okay?" She called out over her shoulder as she raced down the hallway towards her brother once more.

Grif caught himself waving back, sighing when she was out of sight. With Simmons working at the community center now and Huggins apparently going to be hanging around, it seemed as if things were going to be livelier than usual. Honestly? He was surprisingly okay with it, all things fucking considered.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** The dialogue between Huggins and Muggins was extremely entertaining to write, and I have a few more chapters planned out for this story now! Thank you so much for reading! :)

I hope that everyone is taking care of themselves and staying safe during this turbulent time.


End file.
